Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Assam ahead of the assembly polls, on Friday inaugurated and laid foundation stones for projects worth over Rs 24,000 crore.
He also launched the distribution of land ownership certificates to Assam’s tea garden workers — the first such move since their forefathers were brought by British planters from the Chotanagpur plateau nearly two centuries ago.
Nearly 3.5 lakh families across 825 tea gardens stand to benefit from the initiative, which aims to provide legal land rights to the workers currently residing in labour lines without ownership. The tea tribes and adivasis, who make up about 20% of the state’s population, are decisive voters in nearly 35 of the state’s 126 assembly constituencies.
Modi described the distribution of land pattas as “ending a historic injustice towards the tea garden workers.” In his address to the tea garden workers, he said, “I am repaying my debt by giving land pattas to tea garden workers. The tea leaves produced by you reached Gujarat, and by selling tea brewed from it, I have reached this position today. I have your blessings.”
Amid applause, he recalled his ‘chaiwala’ roots and in the same breath accused Congress of neglecting the tea garden community during its tenure. He also released the 22nd instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme, transferring Rs 2,000 each to over 9.3 crore farmers nationwide. He highlighted that the scheme has drawn global attention, with developed nations marvelling at India’s ability to transfer funds directly to crores of farmers “with the click of a button.”
Modi underlined the govt’s commitment to farmers’ welfare, citing a Rs 12 lakh crore expenditure on fertiliser subsidies and Rs 20 lakh crore provided as MSP in the last decade, compared to Rs 6.5 lakh crore under Congress rule before 2014. He inaugurated and laid the foundation for several major projects in Assam and the northeast, including the Kopili Hydro-Electric Project worth over Rs 2,300 crore, the Numaligarh-Siliguri Product Pipeline Capacity Enhancement Project of Oil India Limited, and Phase 1 of the North East Gas Grid that will connect Guwahati with Numaligarh, Gohpur, Itanagar, and Dimapur.
In the transport sector, Modi dedicated railway electrification projects, including the Rangiya-Murkongselek line (558 km), the Chaparmukh-Dibrugarh line (571 km), and the Badarpur-Silchar and Badarpur-Churaibari lines, together costing nearly Rs 2,250 crore.
Waterways infrastructure received a boost with foundation stones for cruise terminals at Bishwanath Ghat and Neamati, while the Regional Centre of Excellence at Bogibeel in Dibrugarh was launched to serve as a maritime training and research hub.
Modi inaugurated the PM Ekta Mall in Guwahati — a commercial and tourism hub showcasing ODOP items, GI-tagged products, handicrafts, and handloom goods from Assam and other states. He said Assam’s development over the past decade has made it a model for the northeast, with its progress leaving an imprint on neighbouring West Bengal, where he claimed people now aspire for a BJP govt.
Earlier in the day, Modi virtually unveiled projects in Kokrajhar after bad weather disrupted his visit. He accused Congress of “betraying Bodoland for decades” and keeping generations “entangled in false dreams.” He said Congress govts signed “agreements merely for show”, while NDA worked for lasting peace through the Bodo Peace Accord, which brought all major groups together for the first time.
Modi contrasted what he called Congress’s “shop of false promises” with BJP’s “double-engine model,” claiming that NDA has consistently fulfilled commitments since the Vajpayee era, including the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the Sixth Schedule.
He alleged that Congress endangered Assam’s security by siding with infiltrators and denying indigenous people land rights, leading to demographic imbalance in districts such as Dhubri and Goalpara. Modi praised the ongoing campaign under CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to free land from encroachment and provide legal documents to tribal communities. He is scheduled to fly to Silchar on Saturday to unveil projects worth Rs 23,550 crore.
Prabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is curren...
Read MorePrabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is currently the Chief of Bureau (northeast). He has been reporting in mainstream Indian national media since 2001. He has been a field journalist reporting gamut of issues from India’s northeastern region and major developments in neighbouring countries like Myanmar, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh concerning India and northeastern region. He has been covering insurgency—internal and cross-border, politics, natural calamities, environment etc. He is a post-graduate in Geological Sciences from Gauhati University.
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