Boasting that China could not encroach a single inch of land under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that during the Chinese aggression of 1962, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said “bye-bye” to the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Shah’s address at an election rally in Assam’s Lakhimpur comes amid a war of words between New Delhi and Beijing over Arunachal Pradesh. China that claims the frontier state as Zangnan had protested against PM Modi’s recent visit to the state to inaugurate Sela Tunne, and claimed the region as part of their territory. India rejected China’s claims and said that Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be a part of India, and Beijing reiterating its false claims won’t change the reality.
"During the Chinese aggression of 1962, Nehru had said 'bye-bye' to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. People of these states can never forget that…But now, China could not encroach even a single inch of our land. Even in Doklam, we pushed them back," he added.
The Home Minister said that the BJP-led government secured the country’s border and stopped infiltration from Bangladesh. He said that the border was earlier “open for infiltration”.
Shah said that with the Modi government at the Centre and Himanta Biswa Sarma government at the state, “we can say that infiltration has stopped”. He also accused the previous Congress government in Assam for inflicting “injustice” on the state and scores of people who were killed due to different violent movements and insurgency-related incidents.
"Under the Modi government in the last 10 years, peace accords were signed and 9,000 youths surrendered," he said, adding that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been withdrawn from 80 per cent of areas of the state.
He said that the Assam Accord was signed but the clauses were never fulfilled. However, two years after the BJP government signed the Bodo Accord, all the clauses were fulfilled.
Amit Shah said the options were clear before the voters – to vote for Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA bloc or to vote for Modi-led BJP, and ensure a third term for the government at the Centre.