Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, April 28: Claiming that the law and order situation has improved in the north-eastern states in the last eight years when the BJP held power in most of the states, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said efforts are on to remove the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the entire region completely at the earliest.
Addressing a ‘Peace, Unity and Development’ rally at Diphu in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, Modi said the centre was keen to completely withdraw AFSPA from the entire region and was moving in this direction as the law and order situation on the ground was showing definite signs of improvement in the last eight years.
“For long, many states of the Northeast have been under AFSPA. But in the past eight years, because of peace and better law and order situation on the ground, we have lifted AFSPA from many parts of the region,” said Modi. In a major outreach to the northeast region, the Centre had from April 1 curtailed the disturbed areas where AFSPA was in force for decades in Nagaland, Manipur and Assam.
Claiming that the BJP’s “double engine” government being the same party in power in both the centre and the state for the improvement in the law and order situation in the North-east, Modi said the twin government’s success was evident in the return of permanent peace and speedy development in Assam.
Modi said since 2014, violent incidents had reduced by 75 per cent in the region. “That is why we were able to lift AFSPA first from Tripura, then Meghalaya,” he said. In Assam, AFSPA has been in force for three decades, and the previous governments kept extending it. But in the past few years, the situation has improved so much that AFSPA was lifted from 23 districts,” he said, adding that the Centre was working towards lifting the Act from Nagaland and Manipur.
The demand to repeal the controversial AFSPA, which gives sweeping powers to the armed forces to arrest without warrants and even shoot to kill in certain situations in “disturbed areas”, got a renewed push after fourteen civilians were killed in a botched-up security ambush in Nagaland’s Mon district last year. The chief ministers of most of the states in the North-East had been demanding withdrawal of AFSPA from their respective states.
The government has entered into peace agreements in Assam’s Karbi Anglong and in Tripura, while efforts are on to ensure permanent peace and speedy development in the entire region, Modi said. “Several outfits of Karbi Anglong returned to the mainstream to march forward in the path of peace and development. The Bodo Agreement in 2020 paved the way for peace in the region and in Tripura, the NLFT also came forward for the peace, while the two-and-a-half decade long Bru-Reang issue was resolved,” he said.
Permanent peace returned to the region, and speedy development in the north-eastern states was ensured due to a collective effort of the Centre and the state governments, Modi said. He stated that this process was “on and will continue in the future.” “Earlier, the northeast was known for bomb blasts and violence and the worst sufferers were our mothers, sisters and children. Now as I see the smile on their faces when the youths have given up their arms, I feel God is showering blessings on me,” Modi said.
The Centre has always tried to resolve difficulties of people in Karbi Anglong and other tribal areas with the policy of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas’, he said. “I have tried to understand each problem of the region as a member of your family and respect your dreams and aspirations. People have explained their problems and I have tried to resolve them sensitively as a member of your family,” Modi said at the rally.
Besides, efforts have been made to solve border disputes among states in the region in a cordial manner, he said. “I want to especially thank Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma along with his counterparts from the north-eastern states as their efforts are helping the region emerge as a strong economic power,” Modi said. The recent boundary agreement between Meghalaya and Assam will encourage the others to resolve the issues and help them march forward, he said.
Earlier in the day, the prime minister inaugurated three colleges for veterinary science and agriculture in Diphu. He also launched the Amrit Sarovar Project to rejuvenate 2,950 water bodies across the state. In Dibrugarh, he inaugurated seven new cancer care hospitals as well as laid the foundation stone for seven more. “These foundations are not just that of any building or institution but are the foundations for the bright future of the youths of Karbi Anglong,” he said.
Speaking on ‘Amrit Sarovars’ in the state, as a part of the Azadi ke Amrit Utsav to commemorate 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, the prime minister said he had started this in Jammu and Kashmir last week, and in Assam, “these facilities will not only be a source of water but also of income generation.”
In his speech, Modi complimented the chief ministers of the region for their efforts in solving the decades-old interstate boundary disputes. He said the BJP’s “double-engine” government had worked towards bringing peace and development in the state. “Since 2014, there has been peace and development in the Northeast,” he said, citing the peace accords in Karbi Anglong, Bodo region and Tripura.
In Dibrugarh, while inaugurating the cancer hospitals, Modi said cancer was detected in big numbers in Assam and the Northeast. “The worst-affected are the poor and the middle class. There was a time a few years back when poor and middle-class patients had to go far away to big cities for treatment. This was a big financial burden on them,” he said, adding that the scenario had changed in the past five years. “Assam has a big network of cancer care hospitals, courtesy the work of former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Biswa Sarma and Tata Trusts,” he said.
The new hospitals —being built at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore — are a collaborative initiative by the state government and Tata Trusts. A Press Information Bureau release said the project was aimed at building “south Asia’s largest affordable cancer care network with 17 cancer care hospitals spread across the state”.
Under phase one, seven hospitals have been built at Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Darrang, Tezpur, Lakhimpur and Jorhat while three are under construction. Phase two covers hospitals to be built in Dhubri, Nalbari, Goalpara, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Tinsukia and Golaghat districts. These centres are being developed by Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF), a joint venture of the state government and Tata Trusts. Another three hospitals under the network will be opened later this year. The foundation for the project was laid in June 2018 while a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the state government during the ‘Advantage Assam’ — Global Investment Summit that year, giving shape to it.
Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata, who was present at the inauguration, said it was an “important day in the history of Assam”. “A higher-level healthcare facility for cancer treatment which was earlier not available in the state is being brought here. Cancer is not a rich man’s disease,” he said.
Sarma said it was a dream come true for the state. “We are now providing the largest cancer care treatment network of its kind in south Asia. This is a huge milestone for us,” he said.
Mr Tata said the network of cancer care centres was a culmination of many months of hard work and praised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his foresightedness. He also appreciated the Centre’s role in making the treatment centres a reality.
