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Congress and AIUDF will open doors for illegal immigrants in Assam: Amit Shah
Amit Shah also accused new political parties formed on the back of anti-CAA protests of indirectly aiding Congress.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday lashed out at the newly formed alliance of Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in Assam saying it would aid the entry of illegal immigrants into the state.
“Can Congress and AIUDF keep Assam free from illegal immigrants? They will open doors to infiltrators as it suits their vote bank politics. Can Assam be safe in their hands? For Assam to be secure, we need BJP governments in Centre and Assam” said Shah.
The home minister accused Congress of using a policy of ‘divide and rule’ among various groups in Assam in the past decades which led to violence and killings in the state.
The Congress, which has 20 seats in the 126-member state assembly, had recently sealed a pre-poll alliance with AIUDF, which has 14 seats. The newly formed Anchalik Gana Morch and three Left parties - CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML-are also part of the alliance.
In his speech, Shah also targeted the newly formed regional parties in the state (which were the outcome of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in December 2019) and accused them of indirectly aiding the Congress.
“Congress was responsible for firing on the state’s youths (during the anti-foreigner agitation in 1979-85) and now those agitating forces have taken a different shape to help Congress by hoping to divide BJP’s votes,” Shah said.
“People in Assam should know that these parties which have changed their clothes and are trying to aid Congress are not concerned about the state’s well-being. People of Assam want peace and development and only BJP can provide that,” he added.
Shah appealed to the voters to help the BJP to retain power in the state so that Assam can be free of violence, agitations and there is control on the devastating floods that wreak havoc each year. He made no mention of the Citizenship Amendment Act which seeks to fast track Indian citizenship of non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and which has sparked another round of protests in Assam.
Earlier in the day, Shah addressed a rally in Kokrajhar, the headquarters of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), to mark one year of signing of the third Bodo peace accord.
“Peace has returned to Bodo areas due to the accord. There used to be killings and abductions here but I can assure that in a few years this region will become the most developed part of Assam,” he said.
“Several steps have already been taken to implement clauses of the accord. I have come to reiterate the commitments made last year and assure that the Centre and state governments would fulfill all the promises made in the accord,” he added.
