The Congress Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi is taking undue interest in making the Bangladesh Grameen Bank open its branches in the state. According to reports in a couple of months three branches of the BGB will be opened in the state. The places identified were those districts that were badly affected by infiltrator-instigated terrorist activities like Sonitpur, in northern Assam.
The Bangladeshi bank officials have visited the district a number of times, and the Chief Minister according to reports met the Bangladesh Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus in February and invited him to open the bank branches in Assam. Gogoi says that he was particularly interested in strengthening rural credit facilities in those districts that were badly affected by terrorism. If providing rural credit to poor people is the priority, then Indian banks could be asked to open their branches. It is clear that Tarun Gogoi has other ideas in mind.
There is no need to alert the nation about the danger the Bangladeshi infiltrators are posing to national security. This migration inspired one of the most popular nationalist upsurges in Assam led by AASU in the eighties. The promises that agitation offered are yet to be realised. It is still simmering below the surface. During this period large swathes of the North-East India have become Muslim majority, so much so that ethnic Assamese Muslims have become minority and they too are demanding protection. They accuse the state Congress leadership of ignoring them to pander to the interests of the illegal migrants who have become more numerous.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs last week in its report has asked the government to monitor the country'seastern border citing the large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh threatening the country's territorial and economic security. The Annual Report of the Ministry of Home Affairs 2007-08 has also expressed similar concerns. The External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on April 23 informed the Parliament, ?Illegal migration is a genuine problem but Bangladesh refuses to recognise it. How could this be solved when Bangladesh does not want to accept it?? In a number of terrorist attacks that took place in Mumbai, New Delhi, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Malegaon and Nasik the common link suspected was of Bangladeshi illegal migrants who have become tools of ISI subversive activities. The number of infiltrators in the country is estimated between five and seven crore.
The number has increased manifold after the UPA came to power. India is perhaps the only country in the world which welcomes infiltrators with ration cards, work permits, voting rights and now banking facility of their choice.
A bank account is a proof of residence and an automatic passport for citizenship. The Congress and the CPI(M) have systematically built up a formidable vote bank in the North-East and West Bengal encouraging and facilitating illegal migration. All attempts to identify and deport the aliens from Indian soil in spite of the repeated Supreme Court raps (on IMDT) have been made futile by the cynical ruling class in the country. They have no commitment to national security or territorial integrity. The latest move of Tarun Gogoi should be seen in this light as yet another sinister move to destroy national economy and safety at the altar of nefarious vote bank politics. These banks are bound to become legitimate channels of illegitimate financial transactions most likely for subversive and terrorist activities.
