Union Minister Kiren Rijiju took to social media app Koo this morning to post a throwback video of a speech he delivered at New Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College a few years ago. In his speech, Mr Rijiju, one of the BJP's most-recognisable faces from the Northeast, shared a piece of advice with students from the region, urging them to not "isolate" themselves further in new cities.
Footage of the speech, which was recorded by a student and shared with Mr Rijiju, shows that he began his address with a joke about how he preferred LSR to his own college. Kiren Rijiju is an alumnus of Delhi University's Hansraj College.
"I was, in this sense, discriminatory. I like LSR more than I liked my own college, Hansraj," the minister said, drawing laughter from the audience at the women-only institute.
He spoke about his own experience of being a member of parliament from the Northeast, saying that he developed his own "concept" to make sure his voice was heard. "If politicians use muscle power outside to get into power, I will not do that," said Mr Rijiju. "But inside the House, I will use my vocal power. So I started speaking a lot in parliament."
The union minister said that while addressing youth from the Northeast region, he always tells them on thing: "Don't look at New Delhi from an isolation standpoint. You'll isolate yourselves further. That is not the correct way.
"Delhi isn't the beginning of the nation. Delhi is the capital, the heart of the nation, but the country begins at the border," he said.
Mr Rijiju's remark drew applause from the audience, and he went on to urge his viewers to shed the narrative that the Northeast is not part of the "mainstream".
"Every part of this country is the mainstream," he said.
In his post this morning, Mr Rijiju reiterated this point as he wrote: "Every part of India is 'mainland' of India and every cultural heritage of India is the mainstream culture of #IncredibleIndia."
The video of the speech, just under seven-minutes-long, has racked up hundreds of 'likes' on Koo and many more on other social media platforms like Twitter.
Mr Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh, is quite active on social media. Last month, he had posted a video of himself dancing with residents of a village in Arunachal Pradesh.
