UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the country will be free from the menace of Naxalism in the next three years. Shah, while addressing the Sashastra Seema Bal’s 60th Raising Day at Salonibari near here, also said among all the Central Armed Police Forces, SSB plays “a unique role in minutely integrating culture, history, topography and language” of the border villages, and bringing people in those areas closer to rest of the country. Besides guarding the borders, the SSB along with other CAPFs have performed their duties effectively against the Naxals in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, he said. “In the next three years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country will be 100 per cent free from the Naxal problem,” asserted Shah.

 

The Home Minister presented awards for exemplary service to six SSB personnel along with trophies to three battalions, besides releasinga postagestampon the occasion. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was present at the event, too. Later at the 13th Triennial ConferenceoftheAllBathou Mahasabha in Dhekiajuli, Shah said, the Congress had a policy to “divert attention from problems and enjoy power, which led to the deaths of thousands of people in the region”, particularly in the Bodoland.

 

The Union Home Minister added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission of bringing peace and development in the north-easthas been successful. “When I became Home Minister, the Bodo movement was underway and I made a sincere attempt to understand the problems and demands of one of the largest communities of the north-east,” he said. The Prime Minister also viewed it from a new perspectiveandtheproblemwas resolved with Bodoland “today being free from bomb blasts, firing and violence”, Shah said. Addressing the passing out parade of the first batch of the five newly-constituted Assam Police Commando battalions,Shah said the Centre is rethinking the free-movement facility with Myanmar. “The India-Myanmar border will be protected like the Bangladesh border... The Government of India will stop the free movement with Myanmar,” he said.