The announcement by Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah that the party would rid Assam of Bangladeshi immigrants seems to be political rhetoric with an eye on next year’s Assembly elections.
Just last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs had told Parliament “it is not possible to have accurate data of such Bangladeshi nationals living in various parts of the country.”
Speaking at a political rally in Guwahati on Sunday, Mr. Shah said: “The Assam polls will be for freeing the State of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.”
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He accused the Congress of not evicting illegal immigrants during its tenure. “We gave money to update NRC [National Register of Citizens], but the State government does not want to do this as they got their votes. This will not continue for long. The BJP will surely evict them from Assam land.”
In his reply during question hour in the Lok Sabha on April 21, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju had said, “There are reports of Bangladeshi nationals having entered the country without valid travel documents. Since their entry is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to have accurate data of such people living in different parts of the country.”
MPs Anupriya Patel, Yogi Adityanath and Narasimham Thota, had sought details on the number of such illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, their involvement in criminal activities and measures taken by the government to check their infiltration.
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The Minister told the House that 18,000 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested between 2012 and 2014, most of which was during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
Mr. Rijiju said: “A revised procedure for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was circulated in November 2009.” The procedure was upgraded in February 2011 and again after two years.