Government Aims to Create Harmonious and Progressive North East India- Amit Shah

GG News Bureau

Tirap, 22^nd May. Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday attended the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Ramakrishna Mission at Narottam Nagar in Tirap District, Arunachal Pradesh as the Chief Guest. Amit Shah also unveiled the Statue of Swami Vivekananda here.

The Union Home Minister laid the foundation stone of a 51 feet high bronze statue of Lord Parashuram at the famous Parshuram Kund in Lohit district.

Speaking at the occasion, Shah said, “Whenever I visit Arunachal and I hear ‘Jai Hind’ instead of ‘Namaste’, I feel a sense of pride. There is probably no other place in the country other than in Arunachal Pradesh which has such patriotism and awareness.”

For 50 years, an institution and its many sanyasis in Arunachal Pradesh have worked to educate and groom thousands of children in this State, he said.

Remembering his childhood, Shah said, “When I was a child, a sanyasi used to say; building a temple is a work of great virtue, building a school is a work of greater virtue, but molding a person into a good person is the greatest virtue.”

The Home Minister stated, “The Ramakrishna Math has continued this service for 50 years in an inaccessible place, in a continual way without tiring and with unending energy, they probably get this unending energy from the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramhansa or Swami Vivekananda, the source of consciousness for the whole country.”

Appreciating the efforts, Shah said, “I sincerely thank all sanyasis of the Ramakrishna Mission for keeping this spirit of service intact for 50 years.”

He said, “Our successful Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has also had a deep association with the Ramakrishna Mission. The Ramakrishna Mission has been working in every part of the country, whether it is the remote hilly regions or tribal areas, they have been working to save and keep the local culture, civilization, music, language intact.”

“Today the whole of Arunachal is in the national mainstream and is following the path of self-righteousness while preserving its culture, music and language, mainly because of the 50 years of penance by the ascetics of the Ramakrishna Math here,” he added.

Thanking the people of Arunachal, he said, “Whenever we come to Arunachal, we go back with energy and patriotism, therefore I want to thank the people of Arunachal for this.”

Praising PM Modi, Shah said, “After assuming the position of Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi has made a new beginning to transform the North East which has many problems.”

Before 2014, when I had visited the North East, I was shocked to hear a member of the family with whom I was staying, asking me whether I had come from India.  In the last 8 years after 2014, Narendra Modi has eliminated the distance between Delhi and the North East., he added.

He said that the whole country loves the North East and all its States and North East is also proudly saying today that we are part of the great nation of India, we are Indians, it is a big step forward to bring this change in a short span of 8 years.

Lauding PM Modi, the Union Home Minister said that till date a Prime Minister had never visited the North East 50 times, but Narendra Modi has visited different States of the North East more than 50 times in 8 years.

So far a Prime Minister was never concerned about the languages of the North East under the National Education Policy, however Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi due to his concern for the languages  of the North East has ensured that primary education is imparted in the languages of the States of the North East under the New Education Policy, he added.

Shah said, whether it is the emotional connection of the people of North East with the rest of the country, whether it is to connect this region with the rest of the nation through the air route, rail and road connectivity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown an intimate attachment to North East by providing infrastructure projects worth thousands of crores of Rupees for the North East.

More than 60 percent of the disputed area between Meghalaya and Assam, who had a dispute for years, has today been resolved peacefully. I hope that we will soon find a solution to the problem of the Arunachal-Assam borders also, he mentioned.

He said, “before Narendra Modi’s government, a blueprint for the development of the North East in a structured way had never been drawn, but we have made this blueprint, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has set the agenda for the development of North East in three parts.”

Explaining the Government’s priority, Shah said, our first aim is to not only save the dialects, languages, dance, music and food traditions of the North East, but also enrich them and make them the pride of the nation.

Second, by ending all disputes, providing a platform to the youth of the North East through which they can compete with the youth of the world, it is our responsibility to create such a dispute-free, peaceful, extremist-free, weapon-free North East.

The third goal is to take all the eight States of the North-East to the top position in the list of the most developed States of the country.

He said, there has been a tradition of Guru Dakshina in India since ancient times, but no disciple would have given such a huge Guru Dakshina to his Guru which Swami Vivekananda gave to his Guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa by establishing the Ramakrishna Mission.

To take the message of the Guru without dazzle, with the spirit of sacrifice and dedication within the country and the world, perhaps no one else could have done it without Vivekananda, he stated.

The Union Home Minister said that Vivekanand ji said that education is the way of expression of excellence already existing in man, I can say with full confidence that the education policy which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced, is education based on the path of education envisioned by Vivekananda ji.

He said that the 21st Century is the Century of Knowledge, the youth of India have to be molded according to the world of the 21st Century, in global competition amongst the youth of all countries, the youth of India should stand up and compete with them and be victorious, the New Education Policy has been devised with this aim.