Citizenship bill will not harm Assam and North-East, assures PM Modi

PM Modi also laid the foundation stone for construction of greenfield Airport at Arunachal Pradesh's Hollongi and inaugurated a retrofitted airport at Tezu in Lohit district through a remote in IG Park in Itanagar.

Dibrugarh: All Assam Students Union (AASU) members display black ballons on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's arrival in protest over Citizenship Amendment Bill, in Dibrugarh, Saturday, Feb 8, 2019. (PTI Photo)

Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi ratcheted up his attack on the Congress over Bharat Ratna and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 row. Modi held the Congress responsible for not awarding poet-music composer-singer-actor Bhupen Hazarika with Bharat Ratna for so long. “He (Bhupen Hazarika) should have been awarded the Bharat Ratna much earlier. But it is sad that that wasn’t done,” Modi said at a rally here. Hazarika is the second from Assam, after the state’s first chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi, to have been honoured with Bharat Ratna which is conferred “in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order” without distinction of race, occupation, position or gender. "It is a matter of honour and pride for the BJP government that both Gopinath Bordoloi and Bhupen Hazarika were awarded the Bharat Ratna during our time," he added. Speaking on the contentious Citizenship bill, Modi said it will not harm Assam and the North-East and citizenship will be granted after due probe and state government's recommendations. “Those who sit in AC rooms in Delhi and fight us in the parliament are spreading misinformation about the Bill....To rid Assam & country of infiltrators we've always strengthened voice of people. That is why we did chitmahal agreement & are working towards completely sealing India-Bangladesh border. We implemented NRC under supervision of SC that earlier governments were hesitating to do,” Modi asserted. PM Narendra Modi at a public meeting in Amingaon, Assam. Before addressing a rally here, the prime minister inaugurated and laid foundation stone of projects in Arunachal Pradesh worth over Rs 4,000 crore and said his government was giving a lot of importance to improve connectivity in the sensitive border state. He also laid the foundation stone for construction of greenfield Airport at Arunachal Pradesh's Hollongi and inaugurated a retrofitted airport at Tezu in Lohit district through a remote in IG Park in Itanagar. In the morning a number of Congress workers held black flags, placards and banners who were led by Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Chera Taya. They took out a rally and tried to proceed to the venue of the PM's function but were stopped by the police.