Guwahati: Terming the ongoing anti-foreigner agitation in Assam as a “BJP-led movement”, main opposition party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Tuesday said this could communalise the issue.
It also accused the Congress government in Assam of failing to control the situation in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) region and in seizing illegal arms.
“This is not a Videshi (sic) Aandolan. This is a BJP Aandolan. This time the agitation is led by the BJP…. This could spell trouble for Assam and communalise the situation,” AIUDF President and Lok Sabha member Maulana Badruddin Ajmal said.
He alleged that BJP is “trying to inflame communal passions as it has no other issue” with which to approach the voters before the coming panchayat polls in Assam. He said political parties were not serious about detection and deportation of illegal immigrants and raise the issue during the time of election only.
The state government also “remained mute when people are taking law into their hands in the name of anti-foreigner agitation,” Ajmal said.
A huge number of illegal arms in the hands of people in BTAD region resulted in sporadic violence, he said. “We had time and again requested both the Centre and the state to act tough and seize the illegal arms. However, so far only 23 pieces of arms have been seized,” he said.
Ajmal also accused the state government of not taking action against those responsible for the violence which gripped the BTAD region earlier this year. “Even the few arrests that have been made are nothing but drama,” he said.
A large number of people who had left refugee camps were yet to return home as there was no security, he said, adding that government should make provision for warm clothes for people as winter is nearing. (PTI)