Congress' discrimination towards NE led to militancy in region

Blaming the Congress for the rise in militancy in the Northeast, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Narendra Modi government accorded priority to the youth of northeast and brought thousands of militants into the mainstream.

New Delhi:Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday blamed Congress for having discriminated attitude against the Northeast, thereby alienating the youth which in turn led to the region becoming a hotbed of militancy.

"Under the Congress rule, central officers turned away delegations from the northeast. The youth of the region was ignored and even though I was an MP, Delhi did not feel like home to me at that time, forget about the common people," said Rijiju at an event in Delhi.

"That's why thousands of people took up arms and the northeast became a hotbed of militancy," the Union Minister of State for Home claimed.

He asserted that the Narendra Modi government accorded priority to the youth of the northeast and brought thousands of militants into the mainstream.

Exuding confidence of its victory in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, Rijiju claimed that the BJP would win 18 to 20 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the region.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who also attended the programme, said no one invested in the northeast earlier considering its volatile situation but PM Modi turned things around for the region.