Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that India wants peace with everyone but no one will be able to encroach upon even an inch of the country’s land and “there can be no compromise with respect to our Army and borders”.

He was speaking after launching a ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ at Kibithu – a border village in Arunachal Pradesh.

On the occasion, Shah inaugurated nine micro hydel projects of the Arunachal Government and 14 infrastructure projects of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) worth Rs 120 crore. Several dignitaries including Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Director General ITBP Sanjay Arora were present on the occasion.

He said under the Vibrant Villages Programme of the government, 2967 villages have been identified for comprehensive development in 46 blocks of 19 districts along the northern border in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Ladakh.

With the provision of basic amenities, the programme will be directed towards stopping migration from border villages, for which employment arrangements will be made in the villages. He said a five-year target has been set to bring back normal situation in the villages affected by migration.

He said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi considers the security of the borders as the security of the nation and therefore infrastructure on the border is the government’s priority.

He said that from 2014 to 2023, 547 kilometers of border fencing has been completed, more than 1100 kilometers of border roads have been constructed, 1057 kilometers of floodlighting has been done, 468 Border Observation Posts (BOPs) have been set up.

He said that the work on border infrastructure which the Opposition party could not do in 12 terms of its government has been done by the prime minister in only two terms.

Before 2014, the entire Northeast was known as a region ridden with many issues, but in the last nine years, due to the Look East policy of the Prime Minister, the Northeast has been recognized as a region contributing to the development of the country.

He said that once upon a time due to the wrong approach of the leaders sitting in Delhi, this region was disputed, insurgency-ridden and lacked peace, development and connectivity.

Shah said that under the leadership of Mr Modi, disputes and insurgency are coming to an end and a new era of development and peace has started. He said that the Prime Minister worked in the Northeast on three fronts — preserving its phenomenal cultural heritage, establishing peace by settling disputes, and making pacts with insurgent groups.

All this has resulted in a 67 per cent reduction in violence, 60 per cent reduction in deaths of security forces and 83 per cent in civilian deaths in 2022 as compared to 2014. Mr Shah said that the government has signed BRU, NLFT, Bodo, Karbi-Anglong accords and resolved inter-state border disputes.

The government has removed AFSPA from 70 per cent of the Northeast and the day is not far when it will be removed from the entire Northeast. He said the youth who had taken up arms, are joining the mainstream and contributing to the development of India.