PM Modi Criticises Congress For Ignoring Northeast, Lays Foundation Stones For ₹5,100 Crore Projects

Itanagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked the Congress party for "ignoring the northeast region" and imposing heavy tax burdens on the people while being in power.

The Prime Minister said that the Congress-led government had ignored the Northeast as the region does not have many Parliamentary seats to contest and win. With the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power, special attention has been given to the northeast as multiple ministers and officers regularly visit the region, he added.

"Generally, the first rays of the sun fall on Arunachal Pradesh, but years have gone by trying to get the rays of development here. I have come here before 2014 too, stayed along with you. Nature has given Arunachal so much, the land, the people, capability, there is so much. But the people who ran the country from Delhi ignored Arunachal. The Congress thought that Arunachal has so few people, there is only 2 Lok Sabha seats, so what attention will they give?" PM Modi said after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for multiple development projects.

#WATCH | Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh | "... Congress ki soch ka, Arunachal ko, poore northeast ko, bohot nuksaan hua hai... Jisko kisi ne nahi poocha, usko Modi poojta hai...," says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also says, "It took decades for development to reach the… pic.twitter.com/0dgNeWn59E

— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2025

Criticising the Congress, the PM said that the party had imposed high taxes on the people while also carrying out multiple scams and indulging in corruption.

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"Corruption, scams were happening all over, and the Congress government kept on increasing the burden of taxes on people. That day, if you earned even 2 lakh rupees then income tax was imposed. On daily essentials, the Congress government took more than 30 per cent tax, even in kids toffees too. That day I had said that I will work increase your savings and your earnings," he said.

Highlighting how the Centre has given due attention to the region, PM Modi added how along with the increase in budget and projects, multiple ministers have frequently visited and stayed in Northeast, in stark contrast to Congress ministers who visited the region only a few times.

"We have increased the budget for northeast a lot. We have made last mile connectivity, and last mile delivery as the identity of our government. We also made sure that the government will not be run from just sitting in Delhi. Now, officers, ministers has to come to Northeast, stay overnight. During congress time, a minister used to come just once in two months, but now more ministers have come more than 800 times to northeast," PM Modi said.

Before his speech, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth over Rs 5,100 crore at Itanagar. Afterwards, he is going to visit Tripura and perform Pooja and Darshan and inaugurate development work of 'Mata Tripura Sundari Temple Complex' at Matabari.

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Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of two major hydropower projects worth over Rs 3,700 crore in Itanagar. The Heo Hydro Electric Project (240 MW) and Tato-I Hydro Electric Project (186 MW) will be developed in the Siyom sub-basin of Arunachal Pradesh.

He also laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art Convention Center at Tawang. Located at over 9,820 feet in the frontier district of Tawang, the centre will serve as a landmark facility to host national and international conferences, cultural festivals, and exhibitions. With a capacity to host over 1,500 delegates, the Center will meet global standards and support the tourism and cultural potential of the region.

In line with his vision of ensuring ease of doing business and fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, Prime Minister also interacted with local taxpayers, traders, and industry representatives to discuss the impact of the recent GST rate rationalisation.

The previous four-slab system has been replaced with a streamlined two-slab regime of 5 per cent and 18 per cent. A separate 40 per cent slab has been retained for luxury and sin goods.

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This new framework is expected to ease compliance, reduce consumer prices, boost manufacturing, and support a wide range of industries, from agriculture to automobiles and from FMCG to renewable energy, and is intended to lower the cost of living, strengthen MSMEs, widen the tax base, and drive inclusive growth.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)