Uttarakhand creating history in development and growth, says Amit Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday (July 19, 2025) said that it was a Bharatiya Janata Party government led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that carved out smaller States like Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, which are now creating history in development and growth.

Speaking at Rudrapur during the celebration of ‘Uttarakhand Investment Festival 2025’ organised on realisation of ₹1 lakh crore investment in the State, Mr. Shah hailed the development being done by the Pushkar Singh Dhami government. He also inaugurated and laid foundation stones of various development works worth ₹1,271 crore.

“During the 2023 Global Investors Summit held in Uttarakhand, CM Dhami told me that the State had received MoUs worth ₹3.56 lakh crore. I told him that signing MoUs is not a major achievement — implementing them on the ground is the real challenge. Today, we are celebrating the grounding of investments worth over ₹1 lakh crore in the State,” he said.

‘CM broke traditional perceptions’

Heaping further praise for Mr. Dhami, the Union Minister added that garnering investments to landlocked and hilly regions is as challenging as climbing a mountain but the Chief Minister, despite all adverse circumstances, broke the traditional perceptions.

Launching a scathing attack on the Opposition, Mr. Shah said that when the people of Uttarakhand were fighting for a separate Uttarakhand State, the Congress party persecuted the agitators fighting for it.

“Making Uttarakhand a separate State was done by the then PM Vajpayee who created three States — Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. These three States were formed and started moving forward in the path of development. The icing on the cake was when Narendra Modi became PM in 2014. Whatever Atalji created, Modiji worked to improve and enhance it. Now, there is a double engine government in Uttarakhand,” he added.

‘Greater devolution of funds’

He pointed out that during the Opposition party’s government in the State between 2004 and 2014, a total of ₹53,000 crore was given to Uttarakhand for devolution and grants-in-aid, while Mr. Modi’s government provided about three-and-a-half times more i.e. ₹1.86 lakh crore from 2014 to 2024. Apart from this, ₹31,000 crore was given for roads, ₹40,000 crore for railways and ₹100 crore for airports.

“Overall, we have given four-and-a-quarter times more money to Uttarakhand than the Opposition party’s government. I am telling this to the Opposition that when the State develops, the practice of disrupting development should be stopped. When the State is progressing, it is the responsibility of every political party to support it,” he said.