Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers have filed over 500,000 complaints with the Election Commission (EC) seeking deletion of names of suspected foreigners from the electoral rolls during the ongoing special revision (SR) process.
“Our stand against illegal foreigners is very clear. That’s why our workers have filed more than 500,000 complaints (during the SR process seeking deletion of names of suspected illegal foreigners). Or else everyone (of them) would have become swadeshis (citizens),” he said on the sidelines of an event at Demow in Sibasagar district adding no place in Assam is safe from illegal foreigners.
The latest statement is part of the CM’s recent diatribe against people from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community in Assam, who are popularly called ‘Miyas’ (a pejorative term), who have roots in East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh), ahead of the assembly polls in the state expected to be held in March-April.
“Recently I was in Duliajan, where people complained that the number of Bangladeshi Miyas has increased significantly there and in areas like Margherita. You have already witnessed the evictions (of suspected foreigners from government lands) carried out in Golaghat and Sarupathar,” he said.
“The areas of Upper Assam were secure till five years ago. But now we see that these areas no longer as safe (from Bangladeshi Miyas). I was going through records of land sale and purchase applications in Tinsukia recently and noticed the ‘unknown people’ are buying more land and Hindus selling their plots,” Sarma added.
{{/usCountry}}“The areas of Upper Assam were secure till five years ago. But now we see that these areas no longer as safe (from Bangladeshi Miyas). I was going through records of land sale and purchase applications in Tinsukia recently and noticed the ‘unknown people’ are buying more land and Hindus selling their plots,” Sarma added.
{{/usCountry}}As per the Assam Accord of 1985 and the Citizenship Act, any person who entered Assam after March 24, 1971 (the day Bangladesh was formed) would be deemed an illegal immigrant.
“We all know that Bangladeshi Miyas are in Assam. But if none of them get notices during the special revision (SR) process of electoral rolls, what will it mean? It would suggest that there are no illegal foreigners in Assam,” he said.
“That’s why those people whom BJP workers have filed complaints. It is for the EC to take a decision on them (the complaints). But if we don’t file a single complaint, it would suggest that there are no illegal foreigners in Assam,” the CM added.
Unlike several other states where SIR is being implemented, the Election Commission (EC) is at present conducting SR in Assam as the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), an initiative unique to the state to weed out illegal foreigners, is not complete yet.