AICC general secretary in charge of Northeast Luizinho Faleiro on Monday assured that the Congress would bring back the special category status and other special provisions granted to the Northeast states if it comes to power at the Centre.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday evening, Faleiro cautioned the people of Northeast that the BJP and its “masters” are all out to annihilate the identity, tradition, customs and tribes of the region.
He said the Northeast region is passing through difficult times with hatred unleased on the people of by the BJP. He added, “I feel the Northeast is burning.”
Faleiro named a few of the instances of special provisions which the BJP-led government at the Centre stopped for the region.
He pointed out that special category status, special plan assistance, industrial policy and additional funds to the region etc. for the region were stopped by the BJP government. He asserted to bring back all these special provisions to the region if the Congress comes back to powere.
However, expressed happiness that the people of the Northeast have of late come to understand the game plan of BJP, which is to destroy to very essence of the Northeast people.
Faleiro expressed gratitude to NPF party and its leaders Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu and T.R. Zeliang for extending support to the Congress in the state elections.
In his view, the NPF’s move to support the Congress follows the party’s understanding of the larger picture of saving the country, its secular fabric and to see that Nagaland marches on the path of progress.
The senior Congress leader also assured that the Congress would support the NPF if it wins the bypoll in the state. The NPF has 26 members in the 60-member Nagaland House.
Faleiro also assured the people of Nagaland to push for early solution of the Naga political problem, not to allow the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament and bring the state back to the path of development.
He said those who support the BJP-led NDA cannot be the representative of the people of Nagaland.
He accused the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in the state of not doing anything to defeat the CAB in Parliament. He said the NDPP is a member of North East Democratic Alliance of which BJP president Amit Shah is the chairman.
Faleiro said though the BJP-led NDA at the Centre did not make Neiphiu Rio a Union minister, though he is one of the senior most politicians of the Northeast, after he left Nagaland to become an MP leaving the post of the chief minister.
The Modi-led government rather chose a junior politician as minister of state for home. The NDPP has failed to understand this and extending support to BJP, he added.
On the national front said, Faleiro said the country is going through economic meltdown with GDP and industrial growth showing a downward trend and unemployment growing.
In reply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated allegations that the Congress has not done anything for the country in the last 50 years, the former Goa chief minister said Modi has pushed India 50 years back on employment front.