Congress’ ‘no single foreigner should stay in Assam’ remark is ironic: BJP
It facilitated the influx of Bangladesh immigrants during its prolonged tenure in Assam, it added
Guwahati, Aug 5: The ruling BJP on Monday criticized the Congress party on the issue of the ongoing eviction drives carried out at various places across Assam.
It highlighted that the party is ‘visibly shaken’ by the eviction campaign against illegal encroachers who, under its patronage, had unlawfully occupied government land, forest areas, and wetlands across the State.
“The statement made yesterday by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gaurav Gogoi claiming that ‘not a single foreigner should stay in Assam’ is not only laughable but also ironic. The same Congress party, during its prolonged tenure in power, had transformed Assam into a fertile ground for illegal Bangladeshi migrants. Therefore, no genuine indigenous citizen of Assam can trust such a claim from a Congress leader,” State BJP panelist Dilip Sarma said.
He claimed that under Congress rule, the “unchecked influx of illegal Bangladeshis” drastically altered the demographic structure of several districts of Assam.
“It was the Congress which introduced the IM(DT) Act solely to protect illegal infiltrators. The current State Congress president’s statement merely adds to this long history of deceit and denial,” Sarma said.
He added that the Congress under Tarun Gogoi did not acknowledge the issue of illegal foreigners in Assam fearing electoral backlash from East Bengal-origin voters.
Highlighting about the opposition by the Congress and Gaurav Gogoi over the re-verification of of 20 per cent names in the NRC final draft, Sarma said, “There have been widespread allegations of large-scale NRC inclusion of dubious names of East Bengal-origin Muslims using forged documents. During the UPA regime, former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Jai Prakash Jaiswal had admitted in the Parliament the presence of lakhs of foreigners in Assam. Even before him, former Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta had declared that there were 40 lakh illegal foreigners in the State. Where did those foreigners vanish? Can Gaurav Gogoi or the Assam Congress give an answer to the people of Assam?”
He alleged that the Congress party has always refused to accept the presence of illegal migrants in Assam only to safeguard its votebank; adding that it has also never raised its voice against the illegal occupation of government lands, satra lands, forests, water bodies, and tribal belts and blocks by the allegedly doubtful citizens.
He added that the people of Assam allegedly do not trust the Congress anymore.
“No matter how much the Congress party now pretends to care for the indigenous people, the reality is that the people of Assam do not trust them anymore. If Congress truly loves the indigenous population, why cannot it gather the moral courage to support the eviction drive launched by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma?” he said.