NE, mainland India relations existed since Mahabharata: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the cultural relations of the Northeast with mainland India had existed since the days of Mahabharata.

It was temporarlily affected during 'gulami' period but now time has come to restore it and take it forward, Shah said without elaborating it.

He was addressing the 68th plenary session of North Eastern Council (NEC) here.

"In Mahabharata, Babruvahan or Ghatotkach were from the Northeast. Arjun had married Chitrangada in Manipur, Sri Krishna's grandson also got married in the Northeast."

"The cultural relations between the northeast and the country is not new. It was affected temporarily during the 'gulami' period... No question of the relations being severed... The time has now come to restore it and take it forward", asserted Shah as he paid tributes to Bharat Ratna- awardee Dr Bhupen Hazarika on his birth anniversary.

Shah, who is also the chairman of the NEC said, "Without taking along the culture, heritage and music of ...