Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal calls for united fight against foreigners

GUWAHATI: Launching a veiled attack on the proposed Congress-AIUDF alliance to fight the 2021 Assembly elections in the State, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday exhorted the ethnic communities to join the united fight against foreigners.

"An invisible Mughal aggression is still on in Assam. We the indigenous people must be united to thwart such an aggression. The very existence of indigenous people will extinct if their land, language and literature are not protected. In many districts of the State the sons of the soil have lost their land rights. We have to strengthen our unity and fight by overcoming all differences. Conflicts among us must be resolved to save our sons of the soil," Sonowal said while addressing a BJP function on the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra premises here on Friday.

During the function the United Bodo People's Organization led by Mihineswar Basumatary merged with the BJP. Some leaders of Bodo People's Front (BPF) also joined the BJP at the function.

Sonowal's unity call to ethnic communities has come at a time when political analysts are predicting that the Congress-AIUDF alliance might give a tough fight to the ruling party in the next year's election. The alliance is expected to click in several districts and constituencies dominated by the immigrant Muslims who originally migrated to Assam from erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh).

Speaking at the function Cabinet Minister and convener of North East Democratic Alliance Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the BJP would not allow 35 per cent people (implying immigrant Muslims) to decide the political fates of 65 per cent people (indigenous and other original inhabitants of Assam) of the State. He said the present ruling regime in Dispur has been taking several historic steps towards ensuring welfare of the ethnic communities in the State.

"The latest BTR treaty will even ensure political rights of the Bodos living outside the Bodo-dominated areas. Such a development is unprecedented for the Bodo community," Sarma said.

State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said the merger of United Bodo People's Organization with the BJP would be a big political boost for the ruling party.