Amit Shah calls CRPF Parade in Assam 'matter of pride'

Guwahati (Assam) [India], February 21 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah said it was a moment of pride that the 87th CRPF Day Parade was being held in Assam for the first time in the force's history.
Addressing the parade in Guwahati today, Shah highlighted the significance of hosting the event in the Northeast.
"For the first time in the CRPF's eighty-six-year history, the CRPF's Raising Day parade is being celebrated in Assam, in the Northeast. This is a matter of pride for all of us, for the entire Northeast," he said.
He added, "In 2019, we decided that the annual parade would be celebrated in different parts of the country, and today I am very happy and proud that this magnificent CRPF parade has arrived in our Northeast."
Earlier, on Friday, Home Minister Amit Shah launched the Vibrant Village Programme 2.0 at Natanpur in the Indo-Bangladesh border area of Katigara in Cachar district of Assam.
Speaking on this occasion, Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several steps for the development of border areas. He said, such programs would be organized in 334 blocks and about 1,954 villages in 17 states of the country, as well as 140 border villages in Assam.
Calling illegal encroachment a biggest problem in Assam, the Home Minister said, encroachers have occupied several villages. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party government has taken effective steps to stop encroachment in the last 10 years.
He said a campaign is underway to clear illegal land encroachment in Assam under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma and the intruders will be identified and evicted step by step.
Later, addressing a public gathering in Silchar, Shah highlighted the government's infrastructure achievements, noting that in the last five years, Assam witnessed 14 kilometres of road constructed daily, hundreds of bridges completed and four major new bridges inaugurated.
"Congress ruled for years, but it did nothing for the development of Assam. What Congress could not do in fifty years, we did in ten years. In the last five years, 14 kilometres of road have been built in Assam every day... Almost hundreds, thousands of bridges were built, and four big new bridges," Shah said.
Shah accused the previous Congress governments of leaving Assam's borders vulnerable to infiltration, claiming they undermined the rights of the Assamese people and attempted to alter the state's demographics. (ANI)