Congress abandoned the Northeast by design, not accident: Sarbananda Sonowal

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress in the Lok Sabha, accusing the party of a long history of “abandoning the Northeast” and asserting that the region “cannot forget the dark history” of its rule.

Initiating the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s Address, Sonowal said the speech should be read as both a roadmap for India’s future and “a verdict on the failures of the Congress era”, while underlining what he described as a national transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The President’s Address has done what the Congress never could. It spoke honestly about the past, decisively about the present, and confidently about the future,” he said, adding that it marked “India’s final departure from decades of misrule, corruption and calculated neglect”.

Sonowal said the Northeast, despite being rich in oil, gas, tea, hydropower, forests and biodiversity, was systematically ignored under Congress rule. “Its resources were exploited, but its aspirations were denied,” he alleged, claiming that refineries, industries, universities, bridges and connectivity projects were sanctioned only after prolonged agitations. “Without andolan, there was no samadhan. This was not neglect by accident. This was neglect by design,” he said.

Referring to the period when a Congress MP from Assam served as Prime Minister for 10 years, Sonowal said even that failed to translate into meaningful development. “Despite having a Prime Minister from Assam, the Northeast remained disconnected, underdeveloped and dismissed,” he alleged.

He further accused the Congress of “abandonment during crises and indifference during peace”, citing the trauma of the 1962 war, decades of agitation, “draconian laws” and chronic underinvestment. “The Northeast paid the price for Congress’ strategic blindness and political arrogance,” he said.

Sonowal said 2014 marked a decisive break from what he called this “dark legacy”. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not inherit a strong system, he rebuilt a broken one. He did not inherit confidence—he restored it,” he said, urging the opposition to “let it go and join PM Modiji’s historic effort to rebuild Bharat towards making it Viksit”.

Claiming a shift from neglect to national priority, Sonowal said the Northeast under the BJP-led government had moved “from isolation to integration, from conflict to confidence”. “For the first time, the Northeast was not managed, it was empowered,” he said.

Drawing from the President’s Address, he highlighted tax reforms, including income tax exemption up to ₹12 lakh and changes to GST, and said inflation had fallen to 4.6% in 2024–25 from levels of around 9% during the UPA years. He also pointed to investments in highways, railways, airports, bridges, tunnels and digital connectivity across the region. “These projects are not concrete structures; they are instruments of justice,” he said.

Citing projects such as the Bogibeel Bridge, Dhola–Sadiya Bridge, the Sela Tunnel, expanded rail networks and Vande Bharat services, Sonowal said daily life and economic opportunity in the Northeast had been transformed. “Earlier, the Northeast had to agitate for bridges. Today, it inaugurates world-class infrastructure,” he said.

The minister also spoke about what he described as restored cultural dignity, including national recognition for regional icons, UNESCO recognition for heritage sites and GI tags for indigenous products. “This is not tokenism. This is cultural justice,” he said.

On tribal welfare, Sonowal said the President’s Address reflected a deeper shift in governance. “For decades, Congress spoke about tribal welfare from a distance. Prime Minister Modi ji governs with tribal communities at the centre,” he said, citing welfare schemes, education initiatives and livelihood support.

He alleged that governance under Congress was slow and opaque, while today it is “transparent and direct”, pointing to direct benefit transfers and welfare delivery in housing, water, healthcare and sanitation.

Concluding his speech, Sonowal said the Northeast would continue to reject the Congress “not out of anger, but out of experience”. “The time for cynicism is over. The time for constant negativity is over,” he said, adding that history would remember “who stood with progress and who stood in its way”.