PM and Assam

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Assam on Saturday and his speech at a public/government function in Sivasagar requires to be analysed deeply, especially in the context of the various burning issues of the state. It is heartening that the Prime Minister launched the second phase of the land patta distribution programme of the BJP-led government, which is supposed to benefit about ten lakh people. He also claimed that the BJP-led regime has taken steps to safeguard the socio-cultural identity of 70 indigenous tribes and groups of the state. No doubt Sarbananda Sonowal's BJP-led government in Assam has taken drastic steps to evict encroachers – mostly Bangladeshi infiltrators – from land belonging to Kaziranga National Park, Batadrava Thaan and Barpeta Xatra. Looking back, one finds that the eviction of encroachers from Kaziranga was vehemently opposed by certain Leftist elements and intellectuals. They however were compelled to remain silent when evictions were carried out on land of Batadrava Thaan and Barpeta Xatra. Modi, in his speech also highlighted the massive connectivity projects which have been completed in Assam in the past four or five years. But then, it is strange that the Prime Minister maintained a stoic silence on the core/burning issues of Assam. There was not even one word about the Assam Accord, about Bangladeshi influx, about the dangerous demographic changes caused by the infiltrators, about jaati-maati-bheti, about the National Register of Citizens, about the Citizens (Amendment) Act, and about his famous statement of April 28, 2014 (made in Srirampur, West Bengal) that Bangladeshi infiltrators should be ready to leave India bag and baggage once the BJP came to power in Delhi.