GUWAHATI: Leaders of the North East Democratic Alliance have resolved to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inclusive growth mantra for the Northeast and sustain the bonding of the diverse indigenous groups and political parties of the region under the two-year-old “geo-cultural” alliance for lasting peace.
NEDA is a BJP-led non-Congress group of political parties formed in 2016. Currently, its constituents are in power in all the northeastern states, except Mizoram.
“We have moved forward and successfully achieved the objective of this alliance which I would term as not political or regional but a geo-cultural alliance that believes in taking the smallest party on board,” BJP national president, Amit Shah said while addressing the 3rd NEDA conclave here on Sunday.
The NDA government unlike the previous dispensation believes in acknowledging the rights of the people of the Northeast, home to 270 tribes. In fact, it’s the diversity that is the strength of the Northeast and we endeavour to represent all the diverse groups of the region,” Shah said.
The chief ministers of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura apart from an MP who represented the chief minister of Sikkim, deputy chief ministers, ministers and other leaders of regional parties attended the meeting.
Listing out the all-round achievements of the Modi government, Shah said one of apparent trends in the past four years is that there has been a transformation from “briefcase politics (of the past) to development politics.”
“Besides, our government has improved ties with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar to usher in peace in the Northeast. Influx from Bangladesh has been brought down. The land boundary agreement with Bangladesh will facilitate business and trade,” he said.
The BJP national president also shared plans to set up a NEDA Yuva Manch and NEDA Mahila Manch in the days to come.
“Hostels for Northeast students are being set up in Delhi. We also plan to organize an annual NEDA sports event keeping in mind the pool of sporting talent that the region has,” Shah added.
BJP heads the governments in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura while it is part of the coalition governments in Nagaland and Meghalaya.
The BJP leader also hoped that NEDA will represent all the eight states of the Northeast once the Mizoram elections are over in December this year.
“We are looking at making the Northeast formidable in the coming days and our goal is make NEDA a representative alliance for the eight states,” he said, referring to making Mizoram a part of the alliance through electoral success.
Shah said the suggestions of the Northeast leaders would be considered in all sincerity.
Speaking on the occasion, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma underlined the significant role played by NEDA in binding the political aspirations of different parties through a common platform.
“NEDA has united different indigenous groups and a party of the Northeast, which itself is a significant achievement given the complexity of a region characterised by diversity,” Sangma said.
The NEDA meet is aimed at chalking out a road map for achieving its target of winning majority of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the North East next year.
Earlier in his welcome speech, NEDA convener Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the conclave was significant in the sense that representatives of seven states of the Northeast – six chief ministers and one MP – attended.
“To have six Northeast chief ministers sit on a common platform is unprecedented in the history of a political alliance meeting,” Sarma said.