Modi shared his memories of many legends of Assamese society namely Shrimanta Shankardev and his prime disciple Madhabdev, Azan Fokir, Bhaskarburma, Sati Joymati, Sati Radhika, warrior Lachit Bordoloi,  India’s freedom movement martyr Kanaklata, litterateur Lakshminath Bezborua, cultural icons Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Bhupen Hazarika, Assam’s first ‘prime minister’ Gopinath Bordoloi etc and also offered his heartiest accolades to Mother Goddess Kamakhya, whose abode is at the Nilachal hills inside the city. “This is the land of Maa Kamakhya and without her blessings nothing can happen here, so I worship the land of Assam,” said Modi with his typical oratory skill at BJP’s Mahajagaran rally in Guwahati on the 8th of February.

Criticizing the Congress led Governments both at the Centre and Dispur (Guwahati), the outspoken politician emphasized on changing the Government in New Delhi for a better future for every Indian. Arguing that the Indian people have supported (read tolerated) the Congress for over 60 years in power, it is time to give the BJP at least 60 months for a change to fulfil their aspirations.

The North East region of India comprising eights States has only 4 BJP Parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha (out of 25) and all of them are from Assam. The  total strength of BJP legislators in the region is only 9,where Assam tops the list with 5 BJP MLAs (out of 126)  followed by Arunachal Pradesh with 3 (60) and Nagaland with 1 (60), where as the Legislative Assemblies of Meghalaya (total number 60), Tripura (60), Mizoram (40) and Sikkim (32) don’t have BJP legislators.

Modi in his 45 minute-speech in Guwahati also mentioned the Assam Accord, which was signed in the presence of the then Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in1985, but he expressed dismay that it has not helped Assam in deporting the illegal migrants (read Bangladeshis) from Assam. Rather the illegal migrants are enjoying political benefits in the region because of the Congress, whereas the indigenous people continue to suffer, Modi commented. He however avoided mentioning the Asom Gana Parishad, which was born in 1985 after the signing of the Assam Accord and came to power in Dipsur with the burning Bangladeshi issue but failed to perform miserably.

Criticizing the Congress party for worshiping a single family (read Nehru-Gandhi) for decades, the firebrand leader accused them of ignoring the country as a whole including a resourceful State like Assam. “Assam is rich both in tea and timber. It has abundant other natural resources including water and wildlife. However, Assam remains an under-developed State of the country. We have to develop all eastern places of India to reduce the imbalance as compared to western States, which are more developed,” said the three-time Gujarat Chief Minister.

Targeting Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for not been able to deliver adequate drinking water to lakhs of Guwahatians though the pre-historic city is on the bank of the mighty river Brahmaputra, Modi compared the situation with his home State Gujarat, where there is no major water body. “Earlier we used to deliver drinking water to the people through tankers. But today we do it with huge water pipes, where even a Maruti car can move inside, across the State touching the international border with Pakistan,” said Modi pinching Tarun Gogoi as only young in his name (Tarun means young), but not in ideas and thoughts.

Appreciating the people of Assam as cultured and peace-loving, Modi criticized Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who has been representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha since 1991 but all the while ignoring the common people’s plight in Assam. “Manmohanji has been elected repeatedly from Assam, but he has done very little for the region. Any BJP leader would have done better (than Manmohan Singh) if (s)he was given the opportunity,” asserted Modi adding that the people of Assam should made him (Manmohan Singh) accountable for his non-performance over the years.

Mentioning Assam’s present law and order situation, Modi lamented that many common people and also security force personnel are being killed every day. Assam has lost so many youth in the last few years, most of whom are a misguided young force, but they are the sons of this soil. The gun culture should be prevented and stopped for the cause of all round developments here, asserted Modi.

The veteran BJP leader assured the people of North East India that he would continue the mission of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for developing the entire eastern region of India. “Vajpayeeji was the first who was more concerned about the development of the region, and for that he made a special arrangement in the ministry. Atalji also asked every department under the Central Government to cut 10% from their expenditures for the sake of Northeastern States and tried to change the face of the region,” claimed Modi.

Around 1,50,000 people thronged the meeting to hear Modi, who had arrived in Guwahati from Imphal (Manipur) after a rally there and later he left for Chennai to address another rally on the same day. The Guwahati meeting was also attended by BJP’s Assam unit president Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP Parliamentarians from Assam Bijoya Chakrabarty, Ramen Deka and Rajen Gohain with other Assam based BJP leaders.

Nava Thakuria