New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not inaugurate the third edition of Khelo India Youth Games 2020, which will start in Assam on 10 January. While the PM had been invited by the Khelo India CEO to attend the event, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said his visit was never scheduled.
There were reports in the local media in Assam that the PM had cancelled his visit to Guwahati in view of the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The PMO sources, however, said Modi was “never scheduled” to visit Guwahati. “The visit was never scheduled, so no point of it being cancelled. We informed the state government accordingly.”
“The PM gets many invites to events and functions on a daily basis. That does not mean he is going to attend all,” said a source in the PMO.
Modi was to visit Assam in December also, to attend the India-Japan summit in Guwahati where he was scheduled to meet Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. That visit was, however, cancelled amid violent protests taking place in the state against the new citizenship law.
Students’ bodies across the state under the aegis of the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), including All Assam Students Union (AASU), had earlier warned of massive protests against the PM if he visited the state for the Khelo India event.
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AASU threatened ‘massive agitation’ against Modi visit
AASU has been at the forefront of the protests that broke out in the state in December against the citizenship law.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi Tuesday, AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said they would be more than happy to host the sports event and welcome all sportspersons, but will stage “massive agitation” if the PM visited Assam.
Bhattacharya said the Narendra Modi government has treated the people of Northeast like “second-class citizens”. By violating the Assam Accord, he said, Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are not only isolating the northeastern region but also playing with their “Indianness”.
According to the new law, immigrants belonging to six persecuted minority communities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be granted Indian citizenship, provided they arrived in India before 31 December 2014. This, the protesters say, is against the Assam Accord of 1985, which mandates that all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who came to India after 24 March 1971 will be detected and deported, irrespective of their religion.
The anti-CAA protests have continued unabated Assam since the new law was passed in December. While violence has since been brought under control, peaceful protests have continued.
Khelo India Youth games 2020 will be held in Assam from 10 January to 22 January. Khelo India CEO Avinash Joshi had sent PM Modi an invitation to inaugurate the event.
This will be the third edition of the sporting event launched by the Modi government in 2018. The first edition was held in New Delhi, and the second in Pune, Maharashtra.
(With inputs from Bismee Taskin)
Also read: NRC, NPR, CAA: Is the Modi govt facing a serious trust deficit?
The report has been updated to incorporate PMO sources’ comment.
For the future, foundational changes are perhaps better attempted after an extensive consultation process. Given the size and diversity of India, that can be a time consuming task, but that is how things work in a federal system. Sometimes a regional party can be prevailed upon to vote for something in Parliament, only to develop cold feet in the state. 2. Conversely, one has never accepted the proposition that not having the numbers in the Rajya Sabha is a serious constraint / roadblock. If proposed legislation is overwhelmingly in the national interest, the a Opposition can always be persuaded, won over. 3. Democracy is not a battering ram for those with a clear majority. Many streams of wisdom flow into law making for the country. What will 272 lampposts like Hema Malini or even Sunny Deol contribute to the process.
India dont need democracy, democracy means rule of the jungle, we need one party system. This bhattacharya is bengali himself he must understand the situation of his people from bd,
Merely shows that neither he nor Mr Shah have been able to convince the major segments of people in Assam about the validity of the CAA. It’s being passed in Parliament is simply not enough.
Now we have the PM and Hm unable to tour the North East and the North west , becoming almost persona non grata.
Can there be a bigger admission of failure than this ?
Congratulations Assam! Let us do the same for all of India. Modi, you are not welcome!