Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday hit out at the Congress for “mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, and said the standard of the opposition party’s members is falling by the day since Rahul Gandhi became its leader.
“The kind of language a Congress spokesperson has used (for PM Modi) and the sort of reaction it has drawn from people from across the country… you will see Rahul Gandhi that the Congress will not be visible even through telescopes after the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. People will respond through the ballot box,” he said while addressing a rally in Mon town in poll-bound Nagaland.
While Shah did not name any Congress leader, his attack came days after Congress leader Pawan Khera, while raising the Adani issue on Friday, said that when a Joint Parliamentary Committee could be set up by former prime ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “what is the problem of Narendra Gautamdas, sorry…Narendra Damodardas Modi”.
Amid a row over his remark, Khera tweeted the same day: “I genuinely got confused whether it is Damodardas or Gautam Das…”
Shah also said the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen on resolving the decades-old Naga issue and the peace talks is progressing successfully.
He maintained that Modi has started a new era of peace and development in the northeast India, which is evident in the peaceful settlement of the issues faced by the Bodo and Karbi tribal communities. In similar manner, he said, the federal home ministry is pursuing to bring settlement to the Naga issue by respecting the emotions of the Naga people.
The Centre in the past eight years reduced insurgency related violence in the region by 70%, and recently removed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA) from the northeast by 60%, including 15 police stations of seven districts in Nagaland, Shah said.
He pointed out that in the backdrop of all these, the Congress party under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership continues its tirade against Modi, without realizing that it has lost its opposition status. Stating that the Congress has become a marginalised party in the entire northeast, which otherwise used to be a Congress bastion, Shah said the party’s level was declining day by day under Gandhi.
He also mentioned that during the Congress regime, only ₹2 lakh crore was given in five years for the entire northeast, but now under Modi’s rule, ₹7 lakh crore was given for development of infrastructure. In 2009-10, the Congress gave ₹1,300 crore to Nagaland, whereas the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party decided to grant ₹4,800 crore in 2022-23.
Touching upon the demand of the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization (ENPO), which represents seven tribal bodies in six districts, for a separate state, Shah said the demand was genuine and necessary discussions on the issue are ongoing.
“We understand your problems, and in consultation with chief minister Neiphiu Rio, the Centre has decided to bring solution to the issue, which is to be delivered after the elections,” he said.
Be it budgetary provisions, representation and overall development of eastern Nagaland, all will be incorporated under the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party-BJP alliance, he said.
Mon is one of the six eastern districts and the BJP and Rio’s pre-poll seat sharing (20:40) partnership is fielding nine candidates in the district, three from the BJP and six from the NDPP.
Shah will stay the night at Mon and address another rally on Tuesday. Modi is expected to campaign for the BJP-NDPP alliance in the state on February 24.