Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a soft corner for the Northeast: Assam Chief Minister Sonowal

In a statement, the Assam CM said that, with his death, the country has lost a visionary politician, a great humanitarian, who was deeply loved by people across party line.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a soft corner for Assam and North East. He took a keen interest in the development of North East and played an instrumental role in creating DoNER to expedite the overall development of North East," he said.

"The foundation stone of Bogibeel Project was laid during his tenure as the Prime Minister. Among a series of projects that can be credited to his direct intervention, he dedicated Numaligarh Refinery and Naranarayn Bridge to the Nation. Moreover, his moral support to the cause of Assam Agitation will long be remembered by the people in Assam,” Sonowal said.

Remembering his personal association with the former Prime Minister since the time he was a student, Sonowal said that he personally benefitted from the advice and suggestions of Atal Bihari Vajapyee.

“I still bear in mind the time I spent with him as an MLA when he came to lay the foundation stone of Bogibeel bridge way back in 2002. He was a leader of prominence not only at national level, his political prudence is evident in country’s foreign policies as well. While he was the Prime Minister, he took country’s foreign relations with America and other countries altogether to a different height," he said.

He was a statesman who dreamt of a seamless rural connectivity, and therefore, enunciated Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and took the connectivity of villages to a never-before level, the CM said.

"He was also instrumental in starting ‘East-West Corridor’ project. He also had an incomparable track record in enabling country’s inclusion in the elite Nuclear Club and registering country’s victory in Kargil War. Besides being a prudent politician, he was a good orator, poet, and litterateur. Besides, being conferred on Best Parliamentarian Award in 1994, he was honoured with the country’s highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ and an unending lists of other awards,” Sonowal said.

(By Hemanta Kumar Nath)

Image: Atal Bihari Vajpayee with then student leader Sarbananda Sonowal (present Assam Chief Minister, 2nd left) and leaders of All Assam Students Union (AASU).