Guwahati: ?Bangladeshi infiltrators have not only intruded into every nook and corner of Assam, but also have already become kingmakers. And, if this trend is not arrested they will soon intrude upon the corridors of power.? This is not a statement by any BJP or AGP leader, but an observation made by the Guwahati High Court last week.
Justice B.K. Sharma, disposing 23 petitions moved by 61 people who had been declared foreigners by the Foreigners? Tribunals, passed a 95-page order last Friday, directing the police to immediately take 49 of the 61 petitioners in custody and keep them there till their deportation to Bangladesh.
?The day is not far when the indigenous people of Assam ? both Hindus and Muslims and other religious groups ? will be reduced to minorities in their own land and the Bangladeshis who are freely and merrily moving around the fertile land of Assam, will intrude upon the corridors of power,? Justice Sharma observed.
In July 2005, the Supreme Court had scrapped the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983.
In his order, Justice Sharma pointed out that the 61 petitioners were not only avoiding proceedings against them in courts and migrant tribunals, but had also got enrolled as voters in India.
?Till now, the petitioners have been successful in avoiding the proceedings against them as well as their deportation from India. In the process, they have incorporated their names in the voters? lists on the basis of which they must have cast their votes. Thus the petitioners and such other large number of Bangladeshis present in the State of Assam have a major role in electing the representatives both to the Legislative Assembly and Parliament and consequently, in the decision-making process towards building the nation. They have become the kingmakers,? he noted.
?It is no longer a secret or in the domain of ?doubt? that illegal Bangladeshis have intruded every nook and corner of Assam, including forest land. In some cases, the petitioners themselves stated before the police that they were occupying and living in government and forest land,? he said.
(Courtesy: The Indian Express, July 29.)
