Guwahati: With both the BJP and Congress raring to provide citizenship status to them in lure of their votes, the “illegal” Bangladeshi migrants belonging to Hindu religion are in an advantageous situation in Assam today much to the chagrin of organisations like All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) which demand detection and deportation of all illegal migrants from Bangladesh irrespective of their religion.
Bangladeshi Hindus who have sneaked into Assam stealthily crossing the porous Indian-Bangladesh border after March 25, 1971, are branded as illegal migrants in the state along with Muslim migrants by these organisations.
However, the BJP has promised to accord citizenship status to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who were forced to leave their country due to persecution and sneaked into Assam and other parts of the country.
The BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and president Amit Shah during their visits to Assam in recent times pledged citizenship status to these Hindu Bangladeshi ‘refugees’.
Modi had promised citizenship to these people on several occasions while addressing public/election rallies in the state . Amit Shah during his maiden visit to the state last month too made the same promise.
The BJP leaders have also promised that the present BJP government in the Centre will ensure that Assam alone doesn’t have to bear the burden of these Bangladeshi Hindus who will be settled in some other parts of the country too.
This prompted the ruling Congress in Assam to take the same stand out of fear for losing their foothold among Hindu Bangladeshi migrants. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, a Congress veteran, said, “We are for providing citizenship to Hindus who had to leave their homes in Bangladesh to escape persecution.”
On Tuesday, the president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), Anjan Dutta said, “ Hindus, Christians, Buddhists etc. who had sneaked into Assam to escape persecution in their homeland Bangladesh should be provided citizenship in the country.”
The AASU has voiced its strong opposition to the stand of the BJP and Congress vis-à-vis Hindu Bangladeshi migrants and stated that all illegal migrants from Bangladesh must be detected and deported from Assam as per Assam Accord clause irrespective of their religion.
