A day after Army chief General Bipin Rawat spoke of a “planned migration into the Northeast” and the “inversion in demographics” it has caused, an Army source said on Thursday that he was only highlighting the need for amalgamation of the region.
“There is nothing political or religious in the talk. Chief of Army Staff just mentioned amalgamation and development in the seminar on the Northeast organised at the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) Bhawan on February 21, 2018,” an Army source said.
Speaking at the seminar jointly organised by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) and the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) General Rawat compared the growth of Jan Sangh, predecessor of the BJP, and a local Assam political outfit, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), and stated that the latter was growing at a much faster pace.
Referring to these comments, the source said that General Rawat had meant that “these people will be with us so let’s amalgamate the people along with development”.
The Army chief had said that one of the reasons for migration from Bangladesh was that it was “planned” by India’s “western neighbour” and supported by the “northern neighbour” as a proxy war against the country.
The source observed that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, too, had spoken about amalgamation and development while talking to media in Dhaka on Wednesday.
