NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday hit out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, alleging that Arunachal Pradesh had remained the most backward state in the country due to his party’s 40-year long “misrule.”
The BJP leader, who hails from Arunachal, also said that due to the focused attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the entire Northeast is poised to become a key economic hub of India.
“Rahul Gandhi has said that only the Congress party can develop Arunachal Pradesh. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi that in the last 40 years of Congress rule in Arunachal Pradesh, why the state has remained the most backward in India with regards to roads, communication, telecommunication, airports, railways, health and other social parameters,” Rijiju said.
His remarks came after Gandhi during a rally in Itanagar said the Congress would restore the special category status to all states of the Northeast if voted to power at the Centre.
Rijiju said the people had suffered for long due to the Congress’ “misrule.”
The development process in Arunachal picked up only after the NDA came to power in 2014, the union minister of state for home affairs said.
“The Congress has left behind unresolved issues in the state like the boundary issues, refugee issues and security problems. Today, we have to face the problems which were created and left behind by the Congress,” he said.
He said it is because of Modi’s Act East Policy and other important infrastructure projects that the Northeast region is poised to become an important economic hub of the country.
Polling for the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly and the two Lok Sabha seats in the state – East and West – will be held simultaneously on 11 April.
Rijiju represents Arunachal West in the Lok Sabha, and will contest the election from the seat again this year. (PTI)
