‘Tripura poll results show that people decisively rejected politics of hatred’

: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed happiness with the results of the assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, calling them a decisive vote for unity.

“I’m not looking at the results in the north-east as the victory or loss of any political party. The whole nation was celebrating the results and this rarely happens,” he said while addressing a convention in Karnataka via video conference.

The convention titled “Youth Power: A Vision for New India” was held at Tumakuru, about 70 km from Bengaluru, as a part of the silver jubilee celebration of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashrama. “The result in Tripura has shown that by voting for the BJP, people have discarded the politics of hatred. Radicalisation can only be answered with integration. And we are working towards ensuring that no part of the country considers itself outside the mainstream,” said Modi.

Accusing previous governments of spreading a lie that tribal areas were prone to leftwing extremism, Modi said this was done “by those who want to break the country to ensure a fertile ground for themselves”.

He said there was a sense of hurt in people of north-eastern states because they felt alienated. “In the past four years, our government has attempted to address this hurt and this is why the results in the Adivasi areas of Tripura have given me immense happiness.” The PM urged youngsters to follow the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

Responding to the PM’s comments on poll results, Congress spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa said he should also consider the results of the recent by-elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which the BJP lost. “These are indicators of the people’s thinking, too,” Kalappa said.