Almost a fortnight after the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at the Congress for failing to understand the significance of places of worship, and said no country could develop by wiping out its past.
At a large gathering in Guwahati on Sunday, after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for a slew of projects worth ₹11,599 crore in Assam, including the Kamakhya temple access corridor, Mr. Modi chided “those who ruled India for a long time since India attained freedom from British rule”.
“Unfortunately, those who ran the government for a long time since independence failed to understand the significance of places of worship. They set a trend of being ashamed of their own culture and past for political gains,” Mr. Modi said.
“No country can develop by forgetting and wiping out its past and cutting its roots,” he added.
The Prime Minister said the situation had changed in the past 10 years after the BJP focussed on “vikas” (development) and “virasat” (heritage), and connecting Assam’s historical and spiritual places with modern facilities is aimed at preserving these sites and fast-tracking development.
He was hopeful that the Kamakhya corridor project would be for Guwahati what the Kashi corridor has been for Varanasi in terms of spiritual tourism. “Last year, 8.5 crore people visited Kashi while more than five crore devotees visited Mahakal Lok in Ujjain and 19 lakh people visited Kedardham,” Mr. Modi said.
He also said more than 24 lakh people had visited Ayodhya in the past 12 days after the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony for the Ram Mandir there.
“The arrival of pilgrims and devotees boosts the livelihood of even the poorest people,” Mr. Modi said, justifying the emphasis of the Union Budget on new schemes for the development of places of religious and historical importance.
He said the Centre had quadrupled expenditure on the development of northeast India, which has “tremendous tourism potential”, from the period before 2014.
The Prime Minister also said the push for peace and the signing of peace accords with several extremist groups had helped the Centre focus on the development of the region.
He was confident that the development projects he had initiated on Sunday would boost Assam’s connectivity to its northeastern neighbours as well as the countries in Southeast Asia; generate employment in the tourism sector; and create new opportunities for sporting talent in the State.
Apart from the ₹498 crore estimated for the Kamakhya corridor project, major projects coming up in Assam include a six-lane road from the new airport terminal (₹358 crore) in Guwahati; upgrading the Nehru Stadium here to Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) standards (₹831 crore); a new sports complex in Chandrapur (₹300 crore) on the eastern edge of Guwahati; and upgrading roads and bridges (₹3,400 crore) as part of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Corridor Connectivity.
