On Thursday (September 30), Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma flagged off concerns about changing demographics in the State and how illegal immigrants can alter election results in Vidhan Sabha constituencies. He stated that Bangladesh origin Muslims have a clear strategy to take over 3-5 constituencies each election by increasing their population, eventually grabbing power in the state after a few decades.
While speaking to the media, Sarma stated that the goal of the illegal immigrants was to capture power at Dispur by 2050 through demographic change. The Assam CM stated that the illegal encroachment at Dholpur in Darrang district was part of the plan to take control of the Sipajhar Vidhan Sabha constituency. He added that most people in the area (6000 out of an estimated 10000 people) did not have their names in the preliminary list of the National Register of Citizens.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma further stated, “Earlier, when I was not the chief minister, I did not have access to intelligence files. But now I have them and these reports talk about a blueprint to take over constituencies after constituencies. Their common thought is to turn around the demography and emerge as the majority to take control of power at Dispur by 2050…If we can stop this from happening, it will be a big achievement for us.”
The Assam CM clarified that his reference was to immigrants from Bangladesh and not native Assamese Muslims. He said that the native Muslims were not part of the vicious blueprint to change the demography of the State. “In fact, the desi Muslims are complaining to me that their mosques have been grabbed by these illegal settlers,” he emphasised. In Assam, Muslims are categorised into two categories, Bengali speaking Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, both legal and illegal, and native Assamese Muslims, descendants of native Assamese who had converted to Islam centuries ago.
Himanta Biswa Sarma also stated that in the last Vidhan Sabha election, constituencies such as Batadraba, Barkhetri, and Mangaldai constituencies fell to illegal immigrants.
Violence breaks out in Darrang district in Assam as encroachers lock horns with security forces
On September 23, an eviction drive conducted by the administration in Darrang district in Assam had turned violent after encroachers of the land attacked security forces. While 9 policemen were injured in the attack by the mob of illegal encroachers, 2 attackers were killed in retaliatory police firing.
The incident took place at the Dholpur in the Garukhuti area near the Sipajhar town in Darrang district in Assam, where the Himanta Biswa Sarma government is conducting an eviction drive of illegal settlers on land belonging to the government or other organisations like temples. When the eviction party reached the place inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims on Thursday, hundreds of people clashed with the police, attacking them with stones, machetes, pointed bamboo sticks, etc.
