Jitendra Singh comes down heavily on activist 'threatening' to cut off Assam

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday came down heavily on the statement made by one of the faces behind the Shaheen Bagh protest in Delhi "threatening" to cut off Assam from the rest of India, saying every patriotic Indian will be angry after hearing such statements.

Singh said anti-India elements were rattled by the normalcy returning to the Northeast and, therefore, in their petty design to settle scores with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, they were ready to push back the region into same situation as it was before.

"Every patriotic Indian would feel angry to hear such statements," Singh said in a statement.

Sharjeel Imam, an activist and one of the faces behind the ongoing protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Shaheen Bagh, was heard telling in an audio clip that Assam should be cut off from the rest of India and taught a lesson, as Bengalis both Hindus and Muslims are being killed or put into detention centres.

Imam reportedly said if he can organise five lakh people, it would become possible to "permanently cut off Assam with rest of India...if not permanently, then at least for a few months".

The Assam police has also filed an FIR under the anti-terror law UAPA against Imam for his speech.

Expressing confidence in the people of the Northeast, Singh said such divisive tactics will never succeed.

The minister for development of north eastern region said he was "personally deeply hurt" because there has been tremendous hard work and diligent effort in the last five and half years on the part of the prime minister and his government to put the Northeast back on track.

Singh said the greatest asset of the Northeast is the aspirational will of its youth which has got kindled in the last five years.

When the Modi government came in 2014, Singh recalled, protracted blockades were a norm in certain regions of the Northeast but today, all this is a thing of the past. However, it seems the disgruntled opponents of the Modi government wish to push back the Northeast to similar mayhem once again, he said.