Ever since my childhood, I have taken a great degree of pride while growing up in Assam; its vast green fields, its valleys and the great river Brahmaputra; its people and its syncretic culture propagated by Srimanta Sankardev and his cherished disciple Sri Sri Madhavdev. I grew up listening to the folklore of Lachit; the pride of Sati Joymoti and the sagacity and wisdom of the Ahom Kings. The importance of Gopinath Bordoloi and Bishnuram Medhi, the cultural icons that Jyoti Prasad and Bhupen Da were for generations (this is a long list) made me what I am today. A true Assamese. Everything contained in our Jatiya Sangeet, O Mor Apunar Desh, made sense to me. There has been no doubt in my mind that all my life I have to work for this cherished land of mine. So, if anyone has an iota of a design to harm this long cherished ideal of mine, and my land, I will brook no tolerance. If as a chief minister, I feel that I am letting the insecurity of my people grow, I will consider myself failing in my constitutional duty of protecting the sovereignty of my State and my Country. For over four decades, my conscious mind has been a witness to a design by a set of people with nefarious ideas. Through the politics of deceit and design, my Assamese hood has been tested over and over again. Now that the people have entrusted me with the responsibility of taking their overall interest forward, I am going to challenge these designs, constitutionally, politically and even forcefully. So, as our Government prepares to present a White Paper on the ever-changing demographic profile in districts after districts of Assam because of infiltration from across the border, and other means, I am going to take whatever steps needed to protect our Assamese brothers and sisters. I can foresee that this White Paper will open the eyes of our people to stay united; fight for their rights and existence and like Lachit, protect our land with valour. I now think this will be our biggest tribute to the legendary Ahom general who risked it all during the historically important Battle of Saraighat to save the honour of his motherland.
I also know that our youths are yearning for progress. Even since we were voted to take responsibility for the State, we have continued to exert every ounce of our energy to ensure that not only are our youths gainfully employed, but they also take pride in Assam’s progress. Starting with investments in hundreds of crores in the State, we have reached a stage where we are competing successfully with the best States in the country to lure big corporate houses to Assam. The Tatas have now come with one of their most ambitious investment plans in the State running into thousands of crores. The semiconductor plant in Jagiroad will be a game changer for us in more than one way. Not only will it generate thousands of jobs directly, but will lead to many ancillary projects thereby boosting entrepreneurship and employment; self sufficiency and prosperity. Our idea is to ensure that in the next few years, parents who see their sons and daughters going outside the State for employment will be happily seeing them working here amidst their own people with pride and satisfaction. This will be one of the ways our Government wants to repay the debt of gratitude to the people of Assam.
In the next two months, we will also witness a historic performance wherein we will celebrate a grand performance of Jhumoir with over 8,000 artistes, just like the grand Bihu performance we had last year. This is not an attempt at any record, but just a way of telling the world the richness of our culture, especially among our tea community brothers and sisters. Their contribution in making the State what it is today is second to none. Today, it is also because of them that we all can, with our head-held high, claim that we are from the land of Tea. Assam is synonymous globally with tea. Pause for a second and think, ‘who has contributed the most to this’, and you will have your answer. I know it is a belated realisation of their role, but it is a much-deserving recognition that we owe to them.
I am also pleased at the cooperation and support of the people in making Amrit Brikshya Andolan 2.0 a grand success. It is not just the numbers of trees planted but the fact that we are all recognising the role of trees in our life, and community that is heartwarming for me. I am sure this united spirit will hold us in good stead in the years to come.
