Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated and launched development projects worth over Rs 6,800 crore in poll-bound Meghalaya and Tripura while asserting the Northeast was a “gateway of security, development and trade instead of just a border”.

The Northeast shares a border with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Modi addressed a public meeting each in Shillong and Agartala, the capitals of Meghalaya and Tripura respectively. He stressed the efforts of the BJP-led central government to secure and develop the border areas. His stress on border development assumes importance because it comes in wake of the December 9 skirmish between India and China troops along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district.

Last month, Modi had said the Centre was spending Rs 50,000 crore for developing infrastructure in the frontier state bordering China, which had reached about 150km inside Arunachal Pradesh during the 1962 Indo-China War.

The Prime Minister, during the Shillong public meeting, highlighted his government’s efforts to boost road and digital connectivity, provide houses to the poor, piped drinking water and skill development in the region, and improve the security scenario so that the AFSPA, the law that gives unbridled power to the armed forces to conduct search, arrest and shoot in disturbed areas, was not required.

The Shillong meeting was held as part of the golden jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council (NEC), the nodal agency that plans the development of the region.

Without naming any past regime, Modi said for a long there was this belief in the country that developing border areas would only benefit the country’s enemies.

“This was the belief... I cannot even imagine it. Because of this thought of the (past) government in the past, connectivity in the Northeast and other border areas could not improve,” Modi said.

“Today we are building new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new railway lines, and airstrips on the border. Desolate border villages are being turned vibrant. The speed needed for the development of our cities is needed for our border too,” Modi said. The BJP heads the government in Tripura, while it is a constituent of the NPP-led ruling alliance in Meghalaya.

A highlight of Modi’s speech in Shillong was his reference to the football World Cup and the use of sporting terms to draw the attention of the gathering to the “coincidence” that the public function was taking place on a football field and on the day of the World Cup final.