No blockade, shutdown in Manipur in last 5 years: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said there was not a single blockade or shutdown in Manipur in the last five years and Chief Minister N Biren Singh has achieved great success.

Launching and laying the foundation stones of 29 development projects worth Rs 2,450 crore in the northeastern state through a video-conference, Shah said violence has been controlled to a great extent in Manipur in the last five years and unless there is stability and peace, development is impossible.

”In these five years, there has never been any blockade, nor has there been any shutdown, and violence has also been controlled to a great extent. Unless there is stability and peace, development is impossible,” he said.

The home minister said Singh has achieved great success in bringing development everywhere in Manipur under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

”The biggest achievement of the Biren Singh government is that it has opened the avenues of stability, peace as well as development for Manipur,” he added.

Shah said Manipur has made a successful effort to come out of the tradition of blockade, violence, corruption, bandh and the drugs trade witnessed under the previous governments.

Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 21 projects worth more than Rs 3,000 crore on Tuesday and also laid the foundation stones of five national highway projects (??).

On Thursday, 15 projects worth over Rs 265 crore were inaugurated and 14 projects worth Rs 2,194 crore launched.

In just two days, projects worth about Rs 5,500 crore were started for the people of Manipur, Shah said, while asking whether this was ever done in two days during the long rule of the previous governments.

The home minister said the Modi government has opened many avenues for the development of the entire northeast and the prime minister has described the eight states in the region as the ”Ashtalakshmi” of the country.

There were numerous visits by Union ministers to the northeast in the last seven-and-a-half years and the prime minister himself has visited the region multiple times, he added.

Shah said many problems such as the land boundary disputes with Bangladesh were resolved through agreements while several peace accords, including the Bru-Reang pact and the Bodo pact, were signed.

He said about 3,000 militants in the northeast have laid down their weapons and joined the mainstream of the society, and these youngsters are now engaged in the process of the country’s development.

”The previous governments had three ‘I’s — ‘Instability’, ‘Insurgency’ and ‘Inequality’. We changed the three ‘I’s, to ‘Innovation’, ‘Infrastructure’ and ‘Integration’,” the BJP leader said, adding that only by integration can the country become one and the northeast can become one.

He said to promote Manipuri culture, a museum will be constructed on the Queen Mother (of Manipur) and all tribal leaders.

The home minister said 31 tribal museums will be built across the country by the Centre, including one in Manipur.

He said Modi has a vision for the development of the northeast.

This vision should become the basis for the development of entire eastern India and when this region is developed, the entire country would be developed, Shah added.

Maharaja Kulchandra of Manipur and his companions fought against the British in Andaman and by naming the place where the battle took place as Mount Manipur, the Modi government has paid tributes to those freedom fighters, he said.

Shah pointed out that Manipur was made the gateway of freedom by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the state also got the first opportunity to hoist the flag of the Indian National Army (INA).