Guwahati, 27 February (HS): Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has given positive signs towards economic development, referring to the historical struggles of the state.

Speaking to the media, he said that Assam has faced serious legacy problems. The partition affected Assam, the state was divided five times and also lost the capital. It was only after 2014 that the central government made special efforts to bring Assam into the mainstream.

While talking to reporters, the Chief Minister mentioned the geographical location of Assam and other challenges. He said that Assam is a landlocked state and has been struggling with many problems including insurgency. He also said that Assam was divided five times after independence, while Bengal was not divided again after independence.

Dr. Sarma said that Assam had to give up its capital, but did not get any financial assistance for its reconstruction. He said, Assam is the only state in India which was deprived of its capital and no financial help was given for its reconstruction.

Blaming decades of neglect in the development of the state, the Chief Minister said that between 1947 and 2014, Assam was ignored and even the local people were not interested in improving the condition of the state.

He, however, expressed confidence about Assam's economic future and claimed that the state has received more proposals than West Bengal in terms of investment. Bengal may have attracted investment proposals worth about ₹4.4 lakh crore, but we have achieved more than that, he said.

However, he also made it clear that he did not want to compare Assam with other states. He said, Bengal is a big state, it has a large population. Assam is a small state, so I do not want to go into comparison.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Sriprakash