Guwahati: Several orga-nisations in Assam including All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have strong protests against the BJP-led NDA government’s initia-tive to provide either citizenship or long-term visa to Hindu refugees from Bangladesh given that the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh was a grave problem for the indigenous people of Assam who are on the verge of losing their dominance in the state.
“As per the Assam Accord signed in 1985, Assam has agreed to take the burden of all illegal migrants from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) from all religions who had infiltrated the state before March 25, 1971. But those Bangla-deshi migrants who have come to Assam illegally after March 25, 1971 must be deported as per Assam Accord irrespective of their religion. There will be no compromise on it,” the AASU adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharrya said.
He said Assam being a small state could no longer shoulder the burden of swelling population of illegal Bangladeshi migrants who must not be classified according to their religion. “As far as we are concerned illegal Bangladeshi migrants must be deported and it will be better the BJP government doesn’t try to violate the clauses of Assam Accord by trying to classify a section Bangladeshi migrants as Hindu refugees for providing them citizenship or long-term visa,” Dr Bhattacharrya.
He said the AASU would send a strong protest letter to the Central government opposing the government’s bid to accord either long-term visa or citizenship to Hindu ‘refugees’ migrants from Bangladesh.
The regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) too has raised strong protest against the BJP govern-ment’s mode. The AGP president Atul Bora said migrants from Bangladesh who are posing grave threat to the indigenous population in Assam must be deported irrespective of their religion.