Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat today urged the youth of Assam to become engineers and doctors to serve the villages in their state, and cautioned them against taking up arms.
He was interacting with 20 Assamese school students, all boys ageing 14 to 16, who met him at his office in South Block as part of a National Integration Tour.
"Do you wonder why the part of India you live in is not as developed as other parts? Why schools in your cities are not like those in Delhi? What is the message you are going to take back when you return home?" Rawat asked.
The Army chief, during his interaction also asked the class 8-10 students, all hailing from Chirang district, "how many of them aspired to join the armed forces?"
"So, do hard work, become doctors, engineers and then go back and serve your villages. But do not think of taking up arms. ('Hathiyar nahin uthana hai'). And, if anyone carries weapons, in six months you will be finished," he said, making a reference to the history of insurgency in the state.
The students, accompanied by two teachers and an army official from the Sikh Light Infantry (SIKHLI), are currently visiting Delhi.
"We left Assam on September 24. All the students boarded a flight for the first time in their life. About half of them have just been out to Guwahati. All 20 students stepped out of Assam for the first time as part of this tour," the army official accompanying them, said.
"They met President Ram Nath Kovind and visited Qutub Minar. During our Delhi stay, they will also go see Red Fort and take a ride in Delhi Metro. Later, we will go to Rajasthan and then return to Assam," he said.
One of the teachers accompanying them said the students speak Assamese, Bengali and Bodo languages, and a few of them speak English also.
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