JORHAT: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday claimed that the BJP had put an end to infiltration in Assam and sought five more years to remove the existing infiltrators from the state.
Addressing an election rally at Dhekiajuli in northern Assam’s Sonitpur district, Shah said infiltrators were taking away jobs meant for Assamese youth.
“Ten years have elapsed but we could not complete our drive against infiltrators. We have stopped infiltration and no infiltrator can enter Assam now. However, that is not enough. Those who infiltrated have to be driven out,” Shah said.
He appealed to people to re-elect the BJP, promising that it would drive infiltrators out of Assam in the next five years.
Training his guns on the Congress, the Home Minister said it had introduced the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act to encourage infiltration in Assam. The Act, viewed as pro-immigrant, was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2005.
Shah said the Congress had, for years, opened doors for infiltrators in Assam, but Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma closed the state’s borders to them.
“The Congress had changed Assam’s demography. Nine districts, including Dhubri, are now filled with infiltrators. Muslims have become the majority community in these districts. No matter how much (Congress leaders) Rahul Gandhi and Gaurav Gogoi try, we will drive out the infiltrators,” Shah stated at another rally in Tihu.
He said infiltrators who entered Assam and West Bengal had spread across the country. The Election Commission is conducting a Special Intensive Revision nationwide to remove the names of infiltrators, but the Congress is opposing it, he alleged.
“But don’t be afraid, there is the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. We will detect all infiltrators, one by one, delete their names from electoral rolls, and deport them to where they came from so that they cannot return,” the Home Minister said.
He asked Gogoi, who is the Assam Congress president, to clarify to voters whether he is with infiltrators or against them, stating that the two cannot go hand in hand. He further said the BJP government had reclaimed 1.25 lakh acres of government land from infiltrators.
Shah sought votes for Sarma to make Assam infiltrator-free, peaceful and developed. He said people should also vote for the BJP to ensure that the youth of Assam get employment within the state. He outlined Assam’s march towards peace under the BJP.
“The BJP made Assam terrorism-free. This is the same Assam where bomb blasts and firing of bullets were common when the Congress was in power. In 10 years, we established peace by signing various peace accords with insurgent groups, which saw 10,000 youth laying down weapons,” Shah said.
He asked why the Congress could not sign peace accords with Bodo and Adivasi youth if the BJP could.
“It was because of their policy of divide and rule. The Congress is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of youth in the past. The youth of Assam have not forgotten the Assam Agitation,” he said.
Hundreds of lives were lost during the six-year-long (1979–85) Assam Agitation, also known as the anti-immigrants’ agitation, which culminated in the signing of the historic Assam Accord.
Shah also criticised the Congress for allegedly not honouring former Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi and legendary singer-musician Bhupen Hazarika. He said the BJP had given them due recognition by conferring the Bharat Ratna.