GUWAHATI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday appealed to the people of Assam to re-elect the BJP, promising that the government would work to make the state flood-free and drive out infiltrators.
Addressing a gathering after launching the second phase of the Vibrant Villages Programme from Nathanpur, a village on the Bangladesh border in southern Assam’s Barak Valley, Shah said the BJP-led Central government was committed to ensuring that every border village is developed on par with other villages in the country
He added that the government aimed to prevent migration from border areas and stop infiltrators from entering through the borders.
“The Congress kept the border open and infiltrators continued to come. They grabbed the jobs of the youth, occupied village lands and attempted to change the demographic pattern,” Shah said.
He further claimed that after the BJP came to power ten years ago, it focused on stopping infiltration during the first five years and reclaiming land under illegal occupation in the next five years.
“We have secured and developed Assam. Vote us to power and we will drive out the infiltrators who entered Assam during Congress rule, and work to make the state flood-free,” Shah said.
He had made a similar commitment on the issue of floods ahead of the 2021 elections.
Alleging that the Congress did little for Assam’s development, Shah said the BJP achieved in ten years what the Congress could not accomplish in 50 years.
“In the last five years, 14 km of roads were built every single day in Assam, the highest in the country. Nearly 24,000 km of roads were upgraded, and several bridges, including four major ones, were constructed in the last ten years under the double-engine government,” he said.
He further stated that Assam’s multidimensional poverty rate declined to 14% from 37%. The per capita income, he said, increased from Rs 49,000 in 2013–14 to Rs 1.54 lakh in 2024–25.
“Assam has developed because there is peace in the state. The Assam government has stopped infiltration and ended bomb blasts, bandhs and terrorism,” he said, adding, “Assam has become the Northeast’s healthcare hub. It has secured Rs 27,000 crore semiconductor plant, and many other industries are coming.”
The second phase of the Vibrant Villages Programme will cover 334 blocks and 1,954 villages across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The Centre will spend Rs 6,900 crore on the programme.