Sarma slams oppn parties for misinformation campaign against CAA

Bokakhat(Assam), Jan. 24 (PTI): Senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma Friday slammed the opposition parties for launching a misinformation campaign against the CAA and said the people of Assam have jumped into the agitation against the citizenship law without going through the act.

The BJP has no objection to any kind of democratic protest but nobody should instigate anyone with lies, Sarma, who heads NEDA which is BJP’S version of the NDA in the north east, said.

He hit out at the Congress, which is against the amended citizenship act, alleging that it was the subsequent governments helmed by it in the state that had indulged Bangladeshis for years and settled them in large numbers.

Keeping up his attack against the opposition, he said misinformations are being spread that more than 2.5 crore Hindus from Bangladesh will be settled in Assam post the Citizenship Amendment Act and will be settled on surplus land of tea gardens lying vacant after ceiling by the government.

“But this is absolutely baseless”, Sarma said, adding if the surplus land is distributed it will be given to the tea garden workers and not others.

“We want to make it clear that no new people will come from Bangladesh. If a single Bangladeshi comes, BJP will not do politics in Assam … CAA is not a law to bring in foreigners but only those Hindus who have come in the 1970s, 80s and 90s till 2014, already have homes, jobs and have been educated here will be given citizenship,” he said at a ‘Sankalp Rally’ organised by BJP and AGP here to create awareness among the people about the amended Citizenship Act.

“We have studied the census report of Bangladesh and have found that there are only 1.25 crore Hindus in that country. If they are brought here, ten lakh trucks will be required.

“Is that possible – will people leave their homes, land, jobs and everything to come to India? This is just a misinformation campaign to create confusion in the minds of the people,” he said.

Stating that the people of Assam have jumped into the agitation without going into CAA, Sarma said, adding indigenous people like the Bodos, Kacharis, Mishing, Karbis, Dimasas, Rabha and Tiwas did not participate in the protests as they have trust and confidence in BJP’s commitment to protect their land and identity.

“This is our land. We were born here and treat the land as our mother”, he said.

Lambasting the Congress for the alleged presence of a large number of Bangladeshis in Assam, Sarma claimed that now half of Nagaon, Morigaon, Dhubri, Goalpara, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts are full of them.

There has been growth of illegal Madrasas, Arabic education, Miya poetry and even the creation of Islamic Sahitya Sabha in Assam. But the Congress or other opposition parties did not raise their voice against these developments, he alleged.

“It was the Congress who settled Bangladeshis on forest lands in Kaziranga National Park. The BJP government evicted them within six months of coming to power,” Sarma said.

He claimed that rhino poaching in the national park has almost stopped now because the BJP government in Assam has taken measures to ensure that those who come to Kaziranga for the purpose “do not return alive”.

The BJP government has also evicted Bangladeshi muslims who had encroached the ‘satra’ (monastery) land at Batadrava, the birthplace of the 16th century saint Srimanta Sankardeva, Sarma said.

Claiming that the BJP has created an environment of development in Assam, Sarma said the state government has “decided to announce in the budget session that rice will be given free to the people, while pulses and sugar will sold at half the market price”.