‘Regional disparity has to go’
NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said competitive federalism among states for nation transformation is good, but regional disparity has to go.
The Chief Minister said this while addressing the third edition of the Republic Summit on the theme 'Time of Transfornation' in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Sarma unequivocally said that competitive federalism amongst states is welcome so long as it contributes to nation-building, but at the same time, regional disparity must be removed.
The Chief Minister is on a roll, with protests and agitation taking a backseat and development taking place on various fronts. "Assam has not even witnessed any protest in the last two years, neither of the left wing, the right wing, or the students," he asserted.
He said Assam has surpassed Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh in terms of GDP and will take over Punjab in the next three years. "We are aspiring to become a leading state among the 10 top states and then aim for a position among the five foremost states of the country," he said.
Unlike mohalla clinics in Delhi, Sarma said Assam is going all out for a total of 24 hospitals, of which 12 have already been inaugurated, with AIIMS coming up recently.
In reply to a question posed by the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, Chief Minister Sarma said he advocated for a uniform civil code for the country. "Like the Hindus, a Muslim must have one wife instead of three wives. I want Muslim women not to feel exploited in any manner but to feel empowered," he said, adding, "We believe that the Uniform Civil Code is one of the agendas that we need to accomplish for the women of India. You cannot allow a husband to have three wives."
Dwelling at length on the Uniform Civil Code, Sarma said, "The UCC is simple, not complicated one. If a Hindu husband has one wife, then a Muslim or other religious person should have the same facility. I am putting it in a positive way because if a Hindu woman can enjoy that privilege, why cannot a Muslim woman enjoy that in an independent India? Are our Muslim women second-class citizens of this country? It is necessary for them in spite of the presence of Article 14 (Right to Equality). So UCC is our responsibility, and this is what we owe to the Muslim women of this country."
The Chief Minister pointed out that people belonging to minority communities have benefited from the pro-people policies of the BJP dispensations.
Sarma said he felt happy to see many new faces from the Muslim community holding administrative posts or becoming doctors or engineers.
The Chief Minister, in his own inimitable style, replied in Hindi interspersed with English that there has been a paradigm shift in development with peace reigning supreme in the Northeast part of the country under the progressive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the same breath, Sarma asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the 'undefeated' leader of the country and that he would continue to be at the helm of affairs for the next 15 to 20 years. Sarma said that Assam has changed drastically since 2014. "Assam has changed drastically after 2014. Peace has returned, and the Northeast has been brought into the mainstream. I have also removed security from our MLAs. Security perception pertaining to the Northeast has changed," he said.
Spelling out the changes that have swept Northeast India in recent years, the Chief Minister said that the region has been through decades of armed conflicts due to separatist elements, but there have been drastic changes and now it is much more connected to the rest of the country.
"The Northeast is a beautiful region. It had a bad time because of the conflicts. Like you (the media), we air an incident of bombing or gunfire in northern India throughout the entire day. And I was raised amid bombings. Those things are very normal. That was an essential part of our life," Sarma said.
"Just the other day, two terrorists were taken down. Today you visit Nagaland; perhaps the other side (the enemies) has more sophisticated weapons than the police. The same was true in Manipur and Assam. Since 2014, those incidents have come down drastically. Peace has returned. "The Northeast has been brought into the mainstream," he added.
Sarma also claimed that the Narendra Modi government's effort to reach out to the Northeast has been very successful. "We don't even need security in Assam anymore," the Chief Minister said.
Editor-in- Chief Minister Arnab Goswami, while congratulating the Chief Minister for his slew of development initiatives in Assam, said Chief Minister Sarma is a man on a mission to take Assam along the high road to glory and prosperity, a press release said.
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