Assam BJP to approach people on burning issues

BJP will go to the grassroots level to reach people on issues plaguing the state, including the problem of illegal migrants, the party's new state president Sarbananda Sonowal said today.

With the slogan 'Amar Asom, Amar Mati and Amar Adhikar' (Our Assam, our land, our rights), BJP would make an attempt to create mass support among the people for the party's movement against illegal migration from Bangladesh, Sonowal told reporters here.

"Due to weak policies and lack of political will of the Congress, 11 of Assam's 27 districts are immigrant majority districts. The indigenous people have to be protected," the BJP national executive member said.

He claimed that the illegal Bangladeshi population in Assam was the highest in the country, recording a 71% growth rate in the period between 1971 and 1991.

The BJP leader said the indigenous Assamese Muslims were the worst sufferers due to the increase in the immigrant population.

Sonowal accused the Congress of trying to create confusion among the people on the foreign national issue.

The ruling party was playing vote-bank politics. It had not completed fencing work in the 272 kms long Indo-Bangladesh border along Assam, he also alleged.

Sonowal also appealed to his former colleague and now All Assam Students Union (AASU) advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya to join hands with the BJP in its movement.