Three regional parties in the Northeast including the National People's Party (NPP), an ally of BJP on Tuesday slammed the "anti-Northeast" policies of the Narendra Modi government while calling for a unity of all regional outfits in the region.
In a political conclave of NPP, "Regional Aspirations, National Outlook" in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar, leaders of the NPP, Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and TIPRA (Tripura) criticised the Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Centre's oil palm mission for the Northeast without taking the opinion of the region's people.
James Sangma, cabinet minister in Meghalaya and a senior leader of the NPP said the CAA and the oil palm mission showed how the Centre was negligent to the concerns of the people of the Northeast. He said even as the NPP is an ally of the NDA, the party would continue to fight against the policies that seek to compromise the interests of the Northeast.
Lurinjyoti Gogoi, president of AJP said while the CAA was a threat to the identity and culture of the ethnic tribes in the Northeast, the oil palm mission would hand over the land to corporate group and destroy ecology.
"It is because of lack of unity among the regional political parties in the Northeast, the Centre is doing whatever it wants to even as it was against the interest of the people," he said.
Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma of TIPRA, a regional party in Tripura said it was not impossible to defeat BJP as his party defeated the ruling BJP in Tripura in the Tripura Autonomous District Council elections a few months ago. He also called for unity of the regional parties to give a united fight against the BJP and its "anti-Northeast" policies.
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