Mizoram Congress Committee slams Narendra Modi, BJP for calling people of north-east 'immigrants'

Aizawl, Feb 6 : Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) today slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly making false statement about visiting the state, and criticised BJP for calling people from the north east as 'immigrants' in its vision document.

In a strong-worded statement, the PCC alleged that Modi, in his yesterday's campaign speech in Delhi had said that he had visited Mizoram, which he had never done before or after becoming prime minister. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign speech in Delhi on the evening of 4th February, 2015 came as a great shock to the people of Mizoram when he talked about the North East Region of the country claiming he had visited Mizoram," the statement said. Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) today slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly making false statement about visiting the state, and criticised BJP for calling people from the north east as 'immigrants' in its vision document. In a strong-worded statement, the PCC alleged that Modi, in his yesterday's campaign speech in Delhi had said that he had visited Mizoram, which he had never done before or after becoming prime minister.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign speech in Delhi on the evening of 4th February, 2015 came as a great shock to the people of Mizoram when he talked about the North East Region of the country claiming he had visited Mizoram," the statement said.

Modi might have visited Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura after he became Prime Minister but he has never visited Mizoram before or after he became Prime Minister, it said.

It was a 'glaring mistake' on the part of Modi and "an affront to the people of Mizoram who have never seen the present prime minister in person." It also strongly criticised BJP for calling people from the north east living in the national capital as 'immigrants'.

"In its manifesto for the Delhi elections, the BJP said it would protect 'immigrants from the NE Region', a totally unacceptable phrase as these eight states are an integral part of India and its people Indian citizens from birth," the statement said, adding that migrants from the region may be found in the national capital region, but never immigrants.

"These mistakes only show how ignorant the BJP leadership is about the India's Northeast Region which now comprises of eight states - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura," it said.

"If they had been as familiar of the NER as Congress leaders are, these gaffes would never have been committed," the statement added.