New Delhi: Ahead of the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar between Lionel Messi-led Argentina and France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (December 18, 2022) used football analogies to target the previous governments in the North East region. Addressing a public meeting on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the North East Council (NEC) in Meghalaya’s Shillong, he drew everyone’s attention to the coincidence that the public function today is taking place on a football field at the time when the football world cup is going on.
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“On the one hand, there is football competition going on, while here we are leading the competition of development in the football field. Even though the football world cup is taking place in Qatar, the enthusiasm of the people here is no less,” he told the gathering.
Drawing an analogy to the red card shown in football to a person who goes against the sportsman spirit, PM Modi said that the NDA government has shown the red card to all the obstacles that come in the way of the development of North East.
“Be it corruption, discrimination, nepotism, violence or vote-bank politics to disrupt the development in the region, we are working with dedication and honesty to uproot all these evils,” he said during his 26-minute speech.
Prime Minister Modi also pointed out that even though such evils are deeply rooted, we have to work towards eliminating each one of them.
#WATCH | PM says, “…When football fever is gripping us all, why not talk in football terminology? When someone goes against the sportsman spirit, they’re shown a red card & sent out. Similarly, in last 8 yrs, we’ve shown red card to several hurdles in development of northeast.” pic.twitter.com/jF5x17QTv1
— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2022
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He said with assurance that even though we are looking at the international teams playing in the football world cup in Qatar, he firmly believes in the power of the youth and remarked that the day is not far when India will organise such a momentous tournament and every Indian will also cheer for our team that will take part in it.Â
“Development is not limited to budget, tenders, laying foundation stones and inaugurations,” he said and stated that such was the norm even before 2014.
“The transformation that we witness today is a result of the change in our intentions, resolutions, priorities and our work culture. The results can be seen in our processes,” he said.
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Giving examples of infrastructural developments in the North East, Modi highlighted the fast-paced work to connect all the capitals of the North East including Shillong with rail service and the increase in the number of weekly flights from 900 before 2014 to 1900 today.
He stated that under the UDAN scheme, flights are on 16 routes in Meghalaya and the result is cheap airfares for the people of Meghalaya.
Highlighting the benefits to the farmers of Meghalaya and North East, Prime Minister Modi said that the fruits and vegetables grown here are easily accessible to the markets of the country and abroad through the Krishi Udaan scheme.
Wonderful to be among the enterprising people of Meghalaya. Launching projects which will further development of the state. https://t.co/r90gtmM3MA
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 18, 2022
The North Eastern Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region which consists of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. The North Eastern Council was constituted in 1971 by an Act of Parliament. However, it was formally inaugurated on November 7, 1972.
