Congress backed illegal immigration in Assam: PM Narendra Modi

PRime government minister Narendra Modi on sun accused the u.s. Congress of supporting infiltration in Assam, enabling shore encroachment, and aligning with an “anti-India” ideology as he credited the BJP’s “double-engine” government for development and a tough stand against illegal immigrants.In the last leg of his visit to northeast India, Modi accused the Congress of neglecting the state’s development as well as heroes like Lachit Barphukan and Bhupen Hazarika, while saying that the double-engine government was “correcting those mistakes”. Modi addressed two separate gatherings in Mangaldai and Numaligarh areas of the Darrang and Golaghat districts of Assam, respectively.He also inaugurated or laid the foundation stones of projects worth ₹18,530 crore in the health, connectivity and energy sectors.Modi alleged there was a conspiracy to change the demography in India’s border areas, calling it “dangerous for national security”, adding that the BJP government will not allow illegal immigrants to take hold of the country’s resources or take away the rights of farmers and tribespeople.“After the Bharatiya Janata Party/National Democratic Alliance governments came to power, we have been taking action against encroachers, and the state government here has started a campaign to free those lands. We won’t allow illegal infiltration and attempts to change demographic balance in border areas to happen,” Modi said during his 45-minute speech in Mangaldai.“We will not allow anyone to snatch the rights of farmers, youth and Adivasi people... There are conspiracies in the bordering areas to change the demography with the help of intruders. This is dangerous for national security,” he added.The Prime Minister arrived in Guwahati from Manipur on Saturday evening, following which he reached Mangaldai on Sunday morning and made his first address. He later left for Numaligarh, where he spoke to a second gathering of around 20,000 people.Speaking in Numaligarh, Modi stressed that during the Congress’s rule, citizens were made to “suffer” and were “insulted”.“For a long time during the rule of Congress, the poor were made to suffer and were insulted, because the work of Congress was done by appeasing a particular class. They used to get power. But the BJP does not emphasise appeasement, but satisfaction,” he added.He said the party “insulted legendary singer Bhupen Hazarika” in an apparent reference to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks in 2019. He said that he can tolerate “gaaliyan” (abuses) hurled at him but not at “Bhupen Da”. “Mujhe kitne hi gaaliya de, main bhagwan Shiv ka bhakt hoon, saara zehar nigal leta hoon (No matter how much you abuse me, I am a devotee of Lord Shiva, I swallow all the poison). But when someone else is insulted, I cannot tolerate that.”When the Centre conferred the Bharat Ratna to Bhupen Hazarika in 2019, Kharge had questioned the decision, demanding the honour for Shivakumara Swami, an iconic Lingayat seer.Recollecting Mangaldai’s association with the Assam Agitation (1979-85) against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, the PM blamed the Congress for failing to listen to the indigenous people. He also accused the Congress of standing with Pakistan.“Congress stands with all such individuals and ideologies which are anti-India. When that party was in power, it used to remain quiet when terror acts bled the country. Now when our armed forces conducted Operation Sindoor, Congress, instead of supporting our army, stood with Pakistan’s forces. The party made that country’s lies part of its agenda. That’s why you have to be careful of Congress,” he added.At the two events, the PM inaugurated and laid foundation stones of several major infrastructure and industrial projects worth over ₹18,530 crore.In Darrang, Modi laid foundation stones for the 118.5-km-long Guwahati ring road project, a 2.9-km-long bridge over the Brahmaputra river, connecting Kuruwa (Darrang) with Narengi (Guwahati) and a 430-bedded medical college and hospital with a general nursing and midwifery (GNM) school and nursing college.Later in Golaghat, he inaugurated the world’s first second generation bio-ethanol plant using bamboo feedstock and laid foundation stone of a polypropylene plant, which will be able to produce 360 (KTPA) of the thermoplastic polymer.“In Darrang, I laid foundation stones of projects related to connectivity and health and here I had the opportunity to inaugurate and lay foundation stones of projects on energy security. These efforts will strengthen efforts to develop Assam,” the PM said in Numaligarh.Modi said that since India is developing at a rapid pace, its energy needs for electricity, gas and fuel are increasing and leading to dependency on other countries to fulfill them, which in turn is resulting in huge sums of foreign exchange.“Our money is used to create jobs in other countries and increase their foreign exchange earnings. There was a need to change this situation. That’s why India has embarked on becoming self-reliant on our energy needs,” he said.The PM said that the government will also focus on the National Deepwater Exploration Mission to find gas and oil deposits in the seas surrounding India. “Assam, which has large deposits of natural oil and gas and where a semiconductor plant is also coming up, will play a big role in India’s development,” Modi said.The Assam Congress, in a post on X, said that the PM was inaugurating half-finished projects, adding that “the BJP government’s is in dire financial strait.Modi left Guwahati around 6 PM and arrived in Kolkata for a two-day visit, during which he will inaugurate the 16th Combined Commanders’ Conference. This is Modi’s second visit to the state, which will go to the polls early next year, in less than a month. Modi is expected to leave Kolkata on Monday afternoon for Purnea in Bihar.