Addressing a public rally to mark the first anniversary of the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led NDA government in Assam, Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to end the problem of infiltration but claimed ”Bengal is not cooperating with the centre”.
“On the other hand, Assam is standing rock-solid behind the centre and is fighting the problem strongly with result evident in the remarkable decrease in illegal infiltration”, Shah said.
The home minister said that he had visited the Indo-Bangladesh border at Mankachar in Assam on Monday and ”the data reveals that during the last six years, infiltration has declined considerably and we hope to completely end it soon”.
Referring to the earlier rampant cattle smuggling to Bangladesh through Assam, Shah said that Sarma’s government has ensured that all doors in the state has been closed for cattle smugglers.
Allegations of illegal migration form an important part of the political narrative in this border state, where the issue led to a prolonged agitation in the 1980s leading to the Assam accord which promised to identify `foreigners’ and de-franchise them.
Since then, the issue has been taken up by the NDA which has promised to bring a National Register for Citizens which would exclude illegal migrants.