PM Modi's 'National Unity Day' message not clear : Assam CM

In a statement Gogoi said that PM Modi’s call for ‘unity, peace and harmony’ would have been befitting if he could have stirred the nation by sending out a strong message to the fissiparous and divisive forces that the country’s unity and integrity would not be allowed to be put at stake and that such inimical forces would be dealt with a stern hand.

“Real respect and lasting tribute can be paid to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel only by sending out a message that intolerance would not be tolerated and that the country’s unity and integrity now at stake, would not be allowed to be compromised with come what may,” Gogoi said.

The Assam CM said that at a time when divisive forces have reared their ugly heads and threatening to create cleavage in society, the Prime Minister has not risen to the occasion to forge the forces of unity to further strengthen the social fabric.

“PM Modi seems to be in a subdued mood and his tone and tenor does not seem to match with the prevailing volatile situation. Even when the asphyxiating atmosphere arising out of rising intolerance prompted scores of writers, artistes and scientists to register their strong spontaneous protests, the present dispensation at the Centre labelled it as ‘not real and managed one’, much to the chagrin of the people,” Gogoi said.

Gogoi pointed out that the need of the hour is to bind together the forces of unity and integrity and to contain the fissiparous and divisive forces with an iron hand.

“If PM Modi wants to pay real tributes to iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who sacrificed their lives for the country’s unity and integrity, he has to rise to the occasion by dealing firmly with the divisive forces and not through mere rhetoric. The time for PM Modi is to act now,” the Assam CM said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)