Northeast remembers the days of partition when the region was put through the most disadvantageous partition of India. We also never forget the farewell that Nehru Ji gave us during the 1962 Indo-China war, saying his heart goes out to the people of Assam .The lack of effort after the scintillating speech on All India Radio to lift Assam from the tragedies of the devastating earthquake of 1950. The lack of consciousness in giving Assam the right over its resources . The lack of owning the region in the pace of development with rest of the country, can never be forgotten by us. Congress always mentioned Northeast to be region of utmost significance to the nation but lacked the vision and intent to protect it and take it forward.
The habitual neglect of the core issue of illegal immigrants and turning a blind eye to the changing of demography of the region , has made Congress lost the trust of the people of the region. Northeast won't forgive the appeasement of the illegal immigrants just for the sake of votes , leading the indigenous to the threat of losing identity and land. The never ending fight of the Northeast to protect its identity, cultures , languages, religions and land has been going on since the days of partition due to the insensitive selfish Congress rules of the past. The Congress misrule is to be blamed for the identity crisis the region has gone through.
The Congress has claimed to safeguard the tribes interests. Failing to fulfil its promises, it has completely lost the tribes' confidence. Tribes all over the Northeast have realised that the Congress did not stabilise any long-term programs that would alleviate the tribes' age-old miseries.Congress treated the tribes to be as a reservoir for votes .But what happens in reality in the society? How sincere was the Congress party in enforcing the programs of social uplift? What it achieved in the decades of Congress rule ? Congress has betrayed every community which it intended to protect and promote the cultures and languages . Congress rule choked Northeast with bombs , blockades and unemployment.
It is because of the misappropriation of the development schemes by the Congress, the common people remained poor and Congress leaders became rich. Corruption from the top to bottom made the region suffer for decades under successive Congress governments. As the Congress kept the northeastern states in the dark for more than 60 years, the people of the region removed the party from all the eight states making the region 'Congress Mukt . Due to the betrayal of the Congress, the party is now nowhere to be seen in the eight states.
Neglect of people's sentiments , maintaining the mainland and Northeast narrative has led Congress loss it roots. Congress is not seen as standing for either development or identity rights of the Northeast. Therefore the stalwarts of the Congress in the Northeast have dumped the grand old party and has associated themselves with the party which serves the people under the unmatched leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The one's still associated with the party feel sorry of their association and lack in morale .
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi refers to the northeastern states as ‘Astha Lakshmi’ , The region has emerged as the New Growth Engine for the country. The change of outlook towards Northeast since 2014 has made it the focal point of development of the Nation. The region has come out of the misrule of the Congress and is ushering in the path of growth, development ,safety and equality. Northeast has now geared up to contribute to the development of the nation. The region has embraced the development and rejected misrule of the Congress which dragged it down to be poor , unsafe , unemployed and oppressed.
Strangely as we know life is a circle, the party for which the Northeast faced threat to its identity, is itself facing identity crisis in the region.
(Gautam Sharma is the Vice-President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Assam Pradesh)
