“Congress deliberately kept border areas deprived of development…”: PM Modi in Barmer

April 12, 2024

Barmer: Coming down heavily on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused it of having ignored development work in border villages due to apprehension of the enemy using the infrastructure in case of a clash and said BJP government considers these villages as “first villages”. 

Addressing a public meeting in Rajasthan’s Barmer for the Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi said that his government has given priority to ramping up infrastructure along the border.    

“The thinking of Congress itself is anti-development. These people call the border villages of the country the last villages of the country. These people deliberately kept the border districts and villages deprived of development because they were afraid that the enemy would come on the roads…,” he said 

“We consider the border areas and border villages not as the last villages but as the first villages of the country. For us, the boundaries of the country do not end here, the country starts from here. Today, if 4 crore poor people in the country have got PM housing scheme, then in Barmer also, nearly 1.75 lakh poor people have got the benefit of the scheme,” he added.

Former Defence Minister AK Antony, who was Defence Minister during the Congress-led UPA government, told Parliament in 2013 that China’s infrastructure in the border areas was superior and this “mistake” has to be accepted by all.

Antony said that India had started building its infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after years of indifference.

The minister said there had been a policy in the past not to develop border areas. He said while trying to improve relations with China and find a solution to the boundary problem, the government will continue to strengthen capabilities along the border.

In his speech, the Prime Minister talked of the steps taken by his government for the development of Rajasthan including Barmer.