New Delhi: Campaigning for the BJP in the national capital, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the incidents of racial discrimination against the students and people of the north-east (NE) have 'drastically come down' due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's outreach in the region.
Addressing a gathering of the people of north-eastern states settled in Delhi, Sarma spoke about the Modi government's investment in infrastructure of the region in the last 10 years.
He said the prime minister talked to him about developing an underground tunnel through the 'chicken neck' between West Bengal and north-eastern states.
"Chicken neck" is a narrow strip of land that connects the north-eastern region with the rest of the country, and is considered highly strategic.
The Assam chief minister said Modi, as Prime Minister, visited NE 70 times in the last 10 years, out of which he visited Assam 27 times.
Referring to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Sarma claimed he used to visit Assam only to file his nomination papers. 'He used to visit Assam three times every five years. He did not go to Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur or Arunachal,' he claimed.
The frequent NE visits of Prime Minister Modi has shown that the region is dear to him, Sarma said.
"Racial discrimination against the students and people of NE has drastically come down. When a PM visits NE 70 times, it registers in the minds of people of the country that NE is very much a part of India and you cannot alienate the people living there," he said.
Racial discrimination against people from the north-eastern states is a "thing of the past" now, and it's "largely due to the outreach of the prime minister," he said.
Sarma said Congress leader Sam Pitroda recently gave examples of how people in different states of the country look like. 'He said we (NE people) look like Chinese. He gave four-five examples saying some looked like Chinese, some like Arabs but did not see anyone as Indian.
"How does he see himself? May be like a South African," said the chief minister.
He claimed that tourism in NE has increased due to 'relative peace' and development in the region. 'If you consider Manipur as an aberration, all seven NE states are peaceful. There was no bomb blast in NE in the last 10 years,' he said.
The Assam chief minister talked about how infrastructure, including highways, bridges and the rail network, has been boosted in the region in last years, and appealed to people to vote for PM Modi.
Citing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's recent attack on Prime Minister Modi and the BJP, Sarma said he still has the 'impact of Tihar jail' on his mind. 'He is talking so much for last two days. What he says now should be discounted. There is no need to pay attention to it,' Sarma said.
Referring to the Mohalla Clinics of the AAP government, the Assam chief minister said, "He (Kejriwal) builds Mohalla Clinics, I work on medical colleges."