BJP chief Amit Shah today heaped lavish praise at RSS for its effort to integrate North East with rest of India as he felicitated noted Gandhian Natwar Thakkar for his life-long contribution in connecting the NE people with the mainstream.
Giving away the "Karmyogi Award 2015" by My Home India, a Mumbai based NGO, working for the cause of national integration, Shah said that Mahatma Gandhi had inspired many youths to work for the country and exuded confidence that the youths will take inspiration from Natwar Bhai's life sketch.
Thakkar's work in Nagaland includes vocational training for school dropouts and physically handicapped, opening primary schools in villages, medical centres, libraries and computer centre in the village and making the residents self-employed by engaging in agriculture and jaggery-making and by setting up oil mills, biogas plants, mechanised carpentry shops and khadi sales counters.
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Octogenarian Thakkar, a dedicated Gandhian, who settled in Chuchuyimlang village in Mokokchung district of Nagaland and worked tirelessly for decades for the NE people recalled his association with India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and leaders of all other streams on this occasion.
Shah said that while many people sacrificed their lives to attain freedom, people like Thakkar dedicated their life for the nation.
Lauding the contribution of individuals and institutions to keep North East connected with the mainstream, Shah said that he wants to say it with pride that RSS had a great contribution in it.
"More than 272 full time RSS pracharaks, who worked in the region and 10 of them also lost their life, four of whom were killed in Tripura after being kept hostage for long. There are many institutions, which got inspiration from the RSS and worked for there.
"I honour all those individuals from the core of my heart on a day Natwar Bhaai is being honoured," he said.
The BJP chief also claimed that whenever his party came to power, it focused on North East and took a dig at the UPA dispensation without naming it for making the DONER ministry "dormant".
"Whenever a BJP government came to power, we brought the NE region in forefront. When Vajpayee ji was Prime Minister, he set up the DONER ministry. Then it became dormant after our government went out. Again when Modi government came to power, the DONER ministry is back to life," he said.
He rued that despite having the nature's bounty, the region could not develop into a tourist hub, which would have been the case in any other country.
