Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to Mizoram and Manipur on Saturday embodies the convergence of infrastructure development with healing, marking a pivotal moment in India’s Northeast transformation. Central to this narrative is Modi’s inaugural return to Manipur since the devastating 2023 ethnic violence, underscoring the government’s intent to leverage large-scale infrastructure projects as both economic catalysts and peace-building instruments. This visit signals a new era of stability and growth, where the spools of railway tracks weave together economic opportunity and communal reconciliation.

The inauguration of the Rs 8,070 crore Bairabi-Sairang railway, stitching Aizawl into the national grid, alongside the unveiling of over Rs 17,000 crore in regional projects, is a pointed reminder that for the Modi administration, infrastructure is not just policy; it is doctrine and stability and growth are to be engineered, quite literally, from the ground up.

Infrastructure as Foundation for Peace

The choreography of Modi’s Northeast foray is deliberate: development is to be the principal vehicle for both conflict resolution and regional integration. By choosing to inaugurate the Bairabi-Sairang railway, a feat of 48 tunnels and 143 bridges carved through some of India’s most recalcitrant terrain, the prime minister is sending a message that the government’s resolve to connect the nation is not to be doubted.

This engineering colossus, rising 104 metres, towering 40 metres above Delhi’s Qutub Minar, stands as a metaphor for the recalibration of India’s approach to its northeastern periphery.

The railway’s completion, after years of geological intransigence and technical labyrinths, is a case study in what sustained political will can achieve. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s remarks on the project’s technical know-how, tunnelling through sand that had to be coaxed into stone, only underscore the extraordinary lengths taken to weave Mizoram into the national economic fabric.

In addition, the immediate launch of three new express services connecting Sairang to Delhi, Kolkata, and Guwahati further reinforces this integration, providing Mizoram’s residents with direct access to India’s major economic centres.

But has this development really brought about peace in the region? Modi’s first visit to Manipur since the May 2023 ethnic violence that claimed over 258 lives and displaced 60,000 people represents a critical intervention. The prime minister has decided to visit Churachandpur, the epicentre of........

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