PM's forthcoming visit to Assam 'significant, symbolic and substantial': Himanta

Guwahati, Dec 18 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's forthcoming two-day visit from December 20 will be ''significant, symbolic and substantial'' for the state.

During the day, the CM reviewed the arrangements for the Prime Minister's visit to the state BJP headquarters here.

Sarma said, ''We do not want to link the Prime Minister's visit to election politics as he has been elected to run the nation, but his programmes in the state are very significant and symbolic,'' he said.

Assembly elections are due in the state early next year.

The PM will begin his visit to the state on Saturday afternoon by unveiling an 80-foot-tall statue of the state's former chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi who was a Congress leader and was awarded the Bharat Ratna by the BJP government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee.

He will also inaugurate the newly constructed Rs 4,000 crore new terminal of the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport and address a public meeting outside the terminal building, Sarma said.

Modi will then lead a road show towards the BJP headquarters in Bashista area where he will interact with party workers.

''This is the first time that a Prime Minister will visit a BJP office in the state and it is a historic occasion for us,'' Sarma said.

In this connection, ''I have discussed with state party president Dilip Saikia and party workers today and reviewed the arrangements here,'' he said.

The Prime Minister will spend the night at the state guest house in Koinadhora at Khanapara area of the city.

On Sunday morning, Modi will interact with 25 meritorious students of various schools in his programme 'Pariksha pe Charcha' for around half an hour while sailing on the River Brahmaputra aboard a cruise ship 'Charaideo', the CM said.

''The Prime Minister has a weakness for the River Brahmaputra and a few years ago, when the Japanese Prime Minister was scheduled to visit Guwahati, a similar event had been planned, but the visit was cancelled,'' he said.

The cruise along the river by the PM will lead to promotion of river tourism in the state just like his visit to Kaziranga last year and his subsequent posts on social media led to the arrival of record tourists to the national park, Sarma said.

''The PM's Kaziranga visit had led to a huge spike in tourist footfalls in the Park. We expect the same catalytic effect on river tourism in Assam when he takes a cruise on the Brahmaputra for Pariksha pe charcha,'' he added.

After the cruise, Modi will visit the newly constructed 'Swahid Smarak Kshetra' in memory of 860 martyrs of the Assam movement against illegal infiltrators, and offer his tributes before the lamp, which always remains lit.

The PM will also visit the martyrs' gallery, where the busts of the 860 people who lost their lives in the movement have been placed, and garland the statue of the first martyr Khargeswar Talukdar.

He will then leave for Dibrugarh and from there to Namrup where he will do the 'Bhumi pujan' of the Rs 12,000 crore ammonia-urea fertiliser plant which marks substantial impetus to the state's growth and development.

The PM will also address a public meeting at Namrup before leaving for New Delhi, Sarma added. PTI DG DG NN