NEW DELHI, Oct 29 - Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday lauded former Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia for having given him an opportunity to represent the State in the Rajya Sabha.
�They took charge of me at a time when no other State was willing to offer me a seat in Parliament. This is therefore an honour that they have done to me, which I would never be able to forget,� he said.
�In a situation like this, I have become somewhat emotional, because my thought goes back to the days in 1991 when Hiteswar Saikia ji took charge of me. He not only took me to Assam, guided me about the complicacies and intricacies of the State, but he and Dr Hemo Prova Saikia adopted me as a tenant in their own house so that I became a resident of Assam in the true sense.
�Saikia was a great statesman and he did so much for the development and the construction of Assam after ravages of the 1980s, which will be recorded in history some time,� he said.
He was releasing a coffee table book Some Stories Left Untold� at India International Centre (IIC) here yesterday.
The book presents glimpses of Dr Manmohan Singh�s contributions to Assam as MP, Rajya Sabha from 1991 to 2019 especially the initiatives under the MPLAD fund from 1993-94 onward and towards Assam and North-east as Prime Minister between 2004-2014.
The book authored by Manjit Kumar Sarma and published by Hiteswar Saikia Foundation highlights the contributions of Dr Singh segregated into different vital sectors such as education, health, agriculture, financial empowerment and future planning in the form of Northeast Vision 2020, peace initiatives such as talks with PCG.
