Arunachal Minister Kiren Rijiju comments on Northeast in Lok Sabha

Guwahati, December 29, 2018:

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs of India, Kiren Rijiju, while taking part in a discussion on the Private Member Bill for Constitutional Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha, said: “I agree that the three big challenges for India from a security standpoint are North East, Jammu and Kashmir and left-wing extremist areas. To ensure the unity of India, we have to handle these challenges with tact. When we come to NorthEast, I am happy that in the 16^th Lok Sabha lots of people are discussing the NorthEast. When I was newly elected, most MPs could not name all 8 North East states”, he added.

“I still go to such places where people have to come to Delhi to address their grievances. The door to the government is not open to them in their native places. These communities number 10,000, 15,000, 1 lakh, 2 lakh, and some of them come here to meet the joint secretary and yet they don’t get an appointment. Does anyone in Delhi have to time to listen to their woes? The country was running like this, but when the PM made me Cabinet Minister in 2014, I ensured that no North Eastern, whether it is an individual or an organization, will go back without meeting a government representative,” said the firebrand politician, speaking on the problems faced by Northeastern communities in reaching out to the Central government.

Rijiju further added: “We are winning hearts like that. From the PM to major as well as minor ministers, all are visiting Northeast on a frequent basis. We did not wave a magic wand; we took concrete steps to win hearts of the people. This has led to winning trust from the people. The wave of development in the region will grow unabated.”

“After my first visit to the NorthEast after becoming Minister, I told my people that they had picked up weapons in the past, but that was because governments of the past had ignored them and we (the BJP) are willing to talk to them. We have started connecting with people from far-flung areas and if developmental activities had been started in the 70’s or 80’s, all insurgent activities would have ceased. And they are ending now. All insurgent activities have decreased by 75%. It is not a small matter. In the past, when Gen. V.K was army chief, army and security forces only used to carry out “operations” in the region and nobody paid any heed to development. Now we have told the paramilitary forces to stay in the barracks and we are prioritizing development. Now the tourism sector is also flourishing in the region because people are no longer afraid of going to the region”, finished Rijiju, commenting on the BJP's solution to combat the problem of insurgency in the Northeast.