Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Better late than never. 'The Prime Minister has realized what we said on infiltration into Assam long back', feels the All Assam Students' Union (AASU).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech from Red Fort that besides demographic changes in the border states of the country due to infiltration of foreigners, the indigenous people have been facing a threat to their identity and existence.
Commenting on the Prime Minister's statement, AASU president Utpal Sarma said, "Better late than never, the Prime Minister has realised what the AASU told the Centre long back regarding infiltration into Assam and its effects. Since he realized the gravity of the threat, the Prime Minister should take concrete measures to solve the problem permanently."
Sarma said, "During the election campaign in Assam in 2014, then BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said that in the event of the BJP coming to power, illegal Bangladeshis would have to pack up from Assam. However, 11 years have elapsed, but we are yet to see any such concrete measures. Rather, the Centre has enforced the anti-indigenous people CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) on us. Illegal Bangladeshis have grabbed lands of xatras, forests, PGRs, VGRs, and other government lands, posing a direct threat to the political rights of the indigenous people of the state. Insecurity continues to haunt the indigenous people of the state."
Sarma said, "Since the Prime Minister has realized the gravity of the problem of foreigners, he needs to take some concrete measures like, (i) execution of every clause of the Assam Accord in a time-bound manner, (ii) sealing of the Assam sector of the Indo-Bangladesh border, (iii) providing constitutional safeguards to indigenous people, (iv) exemption of Assam from the purview of the CAA, and (v) conducting special operations to root out illegal Bangladeshis and fundamentalists."
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