Atal Bihari Vajpayee Unified the Whole Country: CM Sarbananda Sonowal

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Aug 27: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday paid rich tributes to the former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the ‘shradhanjali’ programme organised in his memory by Assam Government at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra.

Paying rich tributes to the departed former Prime Minister Vajpayee, Chief Minister Sonowal said that Vajpayee made tremendous sacrifices for the country throughout his life and he acted as a unifying factor for the country cutting across divides of geography, religion, and language. Vajpayee’s pleasant demeanor inspired love and affection from all sections of the society as he commanded respect from people irrespective of their political ideologies, Sonowal remarked.

Quoting Vajpayee’s lines “I do not fear death but fear getting a bad name”, the Chief Minister highlighted the former Prime Minister’s contribution to Assam and Northeast in the form of construction of Bogibeel Bridge, linking the state with East-West Corridor, setting up of DoNER Ministry etc. Following Vajpayee’s ideals, the present Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuing with the developmental activities and people of the country must stay united to make India a developed country which would be the ultimate respect to the departed leader.

Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Vajpayee was a friend of Assam and he supported the causes of Assam Agitation. Because of the former Prime Minister’s initiatives, the union ministries were mandated to spend 10 percent of their budget allocations for the development of North-Eastern region. However, in case the ministries failed to spend the said amount for north-east development purpose, those unspent funds would be diverted to a Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR). Thus, NLCPR was established by the Vajpayee Government which is responsible for ushering in rapid development of the region.