Assam: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on December 18, after reviewing preparations at the state BJP headquarters in Guwahati, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Assam, starting December 20, would be “significant, symbolic, and substantive” for the state.
Sarma said the visit’s importance transcends politics. “We don’t want to link the Prime Minister’s visit to electoral politics because he has been elected to run the country. But his programs in the state are very important and symbolic,” he told reporters. Assembly elections in Assam are due early next year.
Modi will arrive in Guwahati on Saturday afternoon and begin his engagements by unveiling an 80-foot-tall statue of former Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi – a Congress leader who was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He will also inaugurate the new ₹4,000 crore terminal at the popular Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport and address a public meeting outside the terminal complex.
This will be followed by a roadshow towards the BJP headquarters in Basistha, where the Prime Minister will interact with party workers. “This is the first time a Prime Minister will visit the state BJP office, and it’s a historic occasion for us,” Sarma said.
Modi is expected to stay overnight at the state guest house in Koinadhara, Khanapara. On Sunday, he will hold an interactive session with 25 meritorious students under his ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ initiative, this time on the Brahmaputra River aboard the cruise ship Charaideo. “The Prime Minister has a special affinity for the Brahmaputra River,” Sarma recalled, noting that a similar plan had to be cancelled years ago during a visit by the Japanese Prime Minister.
According to the Chief Minister, Modi’s cruise program is expected to boost river tourism, just as his visit to Kaziranga had attracted a record number of tourists. “We expect a similar catalytic effect on river tourism in Assam when he cruises on the Brahmaputra,” he said. The Prime Minister will later pay tribute at the newly constructed Martyrs’ Memorial area dedicated to the 860 martyrs of the Assam Movement, before proceeding to Dibrugarh and Namrup. His final engagement will be the foundation stone laying ceremony for the ₹12,000 crore ammonia-urea fertilizer plant in Namrup – a project that Sarma has described as a “major boost for Assam’s growth and development.” Modi will also address a public meeting there before returning to New Delhi.
