Kokrajhar: Senior BJP leader L K Advani on Monday said the conflict in Kokrajhar and neighbouring districts in Assam was due to immigration from across the border.
“It is not a conflict between Hindus and Muslims or between majority and minority communities. The problem has arisen due to large scale infiltration of illegal immigrants,” said Advani, who is here on a two-day visit.
“I am very unhappy at what I have seen and what I have heard. It’s distressing that in 2012 these kinds of things are happening,” the BJP leader, who visited two refugee camps in Kokrajhar district, said.
Cautioning that if the situation was not taken care of in time it could deteriorate, he said, “Till now we have only heard of Jammu and Kashmir where a whole population has been rendered homeless … I hope this does not happen in Assam.”
His visit follows a fact-finding tour by a BJP team led by party’s national general secretary Vijay Goel.
Meanwhile, the recent violence in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous districts has left 56 people dead and 61 injured, besides rendering two lakh people homeless, according to figures released by Assam government on Monday.
So far 270 relief camps have been set up where around four lakh persons have taken shelter.
A total of 65 companies of Central companies have been deployed in the affected areas. “Some of the inmates of the relief camps have returned to their respective houses,” it said.
The government said as per initial estimates more than 5,000 houses were burnt down during the conflict so far and over 244 villages with more than 45,000 families had been affected. “Detailed damage assessment is going on in the affected areas,” it added. (PTI)
