From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday took strong exception to a comment made by the Chief Minister of Gujarat and BJP leader, Narendra Modi’s on Prime Minster Dr Manmohan Singh related to the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh in Assam. Gogoi termed the comment a great insult to the nation.
Strongly reacting to Modi’s statement: ‘Assam and FDI issues prove PMji has redefined our democracy as ‘Government of foreigners, by foreigners and for foreigners’, Assam CM Gogoi tweeted, “It is a great insult to the nation, particularly Assam.”
Gogoi said Modi tried to rake up the issue with an eye on the Assembly elections in Gujarat. “Will Modi reply what steps did the NDA Government initiate to prevent infiltration from Bangladesh to Assam while they were in power at the Centre. The BJP only raises the issue at the time of elections for narrow political gains and leave it in the lurch while in power,” he said.
Gogoi had earlier dared both the opposition BJP and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam to publish white papers on giving details about the steps taken by these parties while they in power to check the ‘illegal migration’ from Bangladesh and for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from Assam.
Meanwhile, the Congress government in Assam is preparing to publish a white paper on the efforts made by it so far to tackle the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh.
The government has also taken steps to set up more Foreigners’ tribunals for early disposal of cases related to suspected illegal migrants while three years a deadline has been set for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of 1951 on the basis of 1971 voters’ list in order to facilitate smooth detection and deportation of illegal migrants in the State.