Modi's Northeast Boost Brings Periphery to the Core

Wasbir Hussain

(Wasbir Hussain, an author & political commentator, is Editor-in-Chief of Northeast Live, NE's only English & Hindi satellite news channel)

Until less than a decade ago, India's Northeast was known at home and abroad as a land of rugged beauty and constant turmoil. This image did not help the 45 million people who live in the region's eight states. As news of bomb explosions and ambushes on security forces by heavily armed insurgents hogged national and global limelight, the verdant beauty of the Northeast and its easy-going hospitable people were lost to one and all.

Everyone would look to New Delhi for steps to change things. A lot of people in the region thought those in power at the national capital considered the Northeast as a periphery meant to protect the core from possible external expansionist designs. The leaders of the day did talk peace with insurgent groups that crisscrossed borders, but without much success. The unrest forced the government to continue giving the armed forces a free hand. The soldiers had a useful tool—the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), that allowed them to search a suspect without a warrant and event shoot to kill. AFSPA also provided troops with enough legal immunity.

This all-pervading feeling of uncertainty and alienation would see a drastic change from 2014 onwards. The BJP and its allies routed the Congress-led UPA at the national elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi who became Prime Minister. He came with a vision of transforming India and the Northeast was clearly at the core of his plan. Modi described the eight northeastern states as the 'Ashta Lakshmi' (eight forms of the goddess of wealth) and would soon initiate measures to restore peace, boost infrastructure as never before, and send out an unambiguous message that the Northeast was not a periphery but part of the core or the 'mainstream'.

Modi began by directing his ministers to visit the region as often as possible. Prime Minister Modi led by example and during the past eight years he himself visited the Northeast more than 50 times. Modi realized the potential of the Northeast and its people who live in close proximity to some of the fastest-growing tiger economies. He quickly changed the archaic 'Look East Policy' to a more dynamic one, the 'Act East Policy' as part of his government's 'Neighbourhood First Policy.' A core component of India's foreign policy, it focuses on peaceful relations and collaborative co-development with its South Asian neighbours in diverse areas.

Modi has been clear that peace is a pre-requisite for development. Therefore, he and Union Home Minister Amit Shah embarked on a policy of walking the extra mile to end insurgencies in the region through peace dialogues with the rebel groups and integrating the rebel cadres in the mainstream of national life. While peace the dialogue with the Naga rebel groups has reached an advanced stage, a huge success has already been achieved in Assam. During the past three years, the BJP-led government in Assam has signed three major peace accords with insurgent groups - the Karbi Peace Accord (with five Karbi ethnic insurgent outfits), the Bodo Accord (with all the four factions of the National Democratic Front of Boroland or NDFB), and the Adivasi Accord that was signed on Thursday (September 15, 2022) in New Delhi with eight rebel groups. An estimated 8,000 insurgent cadres belonging to these groups have since joined the mainstream after their outfits were disbanded.

On 31 March this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced reduction of areas under AFSPA in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades. Assam Chief Minister and the BJP's key strategist in the region Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said the "nation was taken by surprise" with the decision to withdraw AFSPA from large parts of the Northeast. He said aside from the improved law-and-order situation, the AFSPA could be withdrawn in such a manner because the government of Prime Minister Modi could actually appreciate and recognize that the situation has improved on ground and had the ability to go for such a 'bold step'. Dr Sarma said during the 32 years that AFSPA had been in force in Assam, successive state governments had requested for its extension as many as 62 times.

Prime Minister Modi and the governments in the Northeast working under his direction have succeeded in changing the narrative of 'backwardness' surrounding the eight states. Development is visible and there is enough enthusiasm among the people about the development programmes. For road infrastructure in the region, the government is investing over Rs. 80,007 crore under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in Northeast (SARDP-NE), and an additional Rs 30,000 crore under the Bharatmala project. Similarly, Indian Railways is spending Rs 74,485 crore to improve the railway network in the region and connect all NE state capitals. The allocation of Rs 68,020 crore in the Union Budget for FY 2021-22 for the Northeast is testimony to New Delhi's development push in the region.

In this transformation, Assam, the most populated state in the region, is definitely showing the way. Assam's economic success story is reflected in the Gross State Domestic Product at current prices that has risen from Rs 3,81,004 crore in 2020-21 to 4,33,925 crore in 2021-22. The GSDP is projected to reach Rs 8,48,845 crore in 2027-28. Assam is also doing well in fiscal discipline -there has been a total revenue collection of Rs 6,054 crore as against demand of Rs 5,659 crore (107 per cent) during the period June, 2021 to March, 2022.

It is clear that as India celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Northeast can boast of improved connectivity, both forward linkages with the rest of the country and backward linkages within states and within the region. Today, an all-weather road has reached Dichu, in the remote Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh, which is just one kilometer short of the border with China. Assam alone has invested more than Rs 10,000 crore in road infrastructure during just one FY 2021-22. Power is another area where the Northeast, led by Assam, has made great strides. In July this year, the Union Finance Ministry has approved 1,000 MW solar power projects in Assam for which the Asian Development Bank has sanctioned an amount of USD 434.25 million or Rs 3,200 crore.

When Prime Minister Modi says the "Northeast would be India's new engine for growth", he actually means it. And it is not just about pumping money into the region. Modi has an emotional connect with the Northeast. The number of times Modi wore the Assamese gamocha, the hand-woven scarf that is a symbol of respect, indicates his love for Assam and its people. He wore it even when he went for inoculation against COVID. "The Assamese gamocha soothes me whenever I am in pain," Modi once told an interviewer. These are gestures that make Modi different.