Guwahati: Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said Assam would not be allowed to be overburdened with people from across the border.
Reacting strongly to the statement of Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh that Assam would have to bear the burden of minority immigrants from Bangladesh, Gogoi said that the attitude and approach of the Central government to impose things from the top is contrary to the spirit of cooperative federalism.
“The manner in which the present dispensation at the Centre is trying to impose things from the top undermines the spirit of cooperative federalism. It seems as if the States have no say at all,” Gogoi said, adding that the state government would not allow the identity of the Assamese people to be put at stake.
The Chief Minister said barring those who have been staying in the state for a long time due to religious and other persecution, the state would not be allowed to be overburdened.
“People of Assam know how to fight it out and to preserve their identity. Our Government is for safeguarding their identity,” he added.
Gogoi said that the state government has been all along urging the Centre to strengthen barbed wire fencing, intensifying riverine patrolling, floodlighting, increasing of BoPs, improving border roads and other measures to stop illegal influx from across the border. (UNI)
