Guwahati: The Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) would only be repealed once peace had been established in northeast India.
While addressing a public gathering at the inauguration of the newly built BJP office, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan in Guwahati, Amit Shah said, “Rahul Gandhi gave Congress an agenda to remove AFSPA from the northeast if they came to power (in 2019), for the sake of appeasement. When it was asked of me, I said we will first bring peace in the northeast and then only will remove AFSPA, which would not happen just for appeasement.”
The AFSPA, an act that gives the armed forces the authority to uphold public order in “disturbed areas,” was recently extended by the Ministry of Home Affairs in some regions of the northeast for an additional six months.
The AFSPA was expanded in a ruling on October 1 to include parts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. However, on February 28, 2022 in Assam and on December 1, 2021 in Manipur, the legislation was extended for a another six months.
Speaking to the crowd, Shah argued that the BJP’s party office is a shrine and not just a brick and stone building.
“A BJP employee sees their workplace as a collection of feelings rather than just a physical structure. The BJP’s goals for the development of Assam and all of northeast India are formed here, where the work is outlined “Shah noted the region’s overall progress while emphasising it.
Amit Shah said he was pleased with how Assam and the northeast were progressing and said that the party’s continuous leadership in the area has provided “all-round prosperity.”
“During my Vidyarthi Parishad days, we had never imagined if we would make a government on our own in Assam, but today, the consecutive rule of BJP in the state has been ensuring all-round development,” he said underscoring that instead of arriving in Assam as Home Minister this time, Shah said he has come as a BJP worker.
“I am very happy today that in the short span of 2014 to 2022, the entire North East and our Assam has started on the path of development today. It is a matter of good fortune for a worker like me that the development of both North East and BJP (here in North East) are going hand-in-hand,” he added.
He further attacked Congress for making the peaceful land of Assam turn divisive.
“People were always worried that if Assam doesn’t get inclusive growth, it would be a big problem for North East. The underlying reason was Congress, which always was keen to make the pious and peaceful land of Assam, a divisive one,” Shah added while alleging that the Congress-led UPA government had made the “great land of Assam a land of disintegration, of terrorism, of strikes, of agitations”.
He claimed that the BJP leaders (Shah and national president JP Nadda) visit each of the seven sister states every two weeks, even if they just stay for one night, demonstrating the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to include the Northeast in development efforts.