Rahul Gandhi pledges northeastern states special status, bar on Citizenship Bill

Guwahati: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday promised to restore the special category status to all the northeastern states if voted to power.

Addressing an elections rally at Itanagar, Mr Gandhi also reiterated that they would not let the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill get passed.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that the government wanted to introduce was the “biggest attack” on the culture of the Northeast. “We will not let this bill pass, come what may,” he said.

Asserting that his party will never attack the indigenous culture and heritage of the state, Mr Gandhi said, “Arunachal Pradesh needs more roads, hospitals, airports, helipads. “We had accorded special status to the region because it was necessary for the development the northeast but BJP government has abolished it,” he said.

Referring to the slogan of BJP — Congress Mukt Baharat — Mr Gandhi said that unlike BJP, his party doesn’t want to see the end of any ideology. “We will say to them [BJP] that they are free to follow their own ideology. But we will not allow them to impose it on Arunachal Pradesh, on Manipur, on any other part of the country,” said the Congress president.

Mr Gandhi also claimed that while he cancelled all rallies following the Pulwama attack on February 14, in which 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed, Mr Modi was shooting for a film at the Jim Corbett National Park.