GUWAHATI: Infiltration has fueled a surge in ‘Love Jihad’ cases and criminal activities across Assam, sparking a crisis for the local language and culture, Professor Nandita Saikia of Mumbai’s International Institute of Population Sciences said. Beyond social chaos, infiltration is now aggressively encroaching on indigenous populations, with infiltrators having seized a territory equivalent to Sikkim state.
Addressing an august gathering in a special lecture programme organised under the aegis of North East India Study Group at Sangh Sadhak Madhukar Limaye Bhawan at Bharalumukh in Guwahati on 29th March,
Professor Nandita Saikia, a public health and mortality expert at the International Institute of Population Sciences in Mumbai, remarked that, historically, Assam has been a land of migrants. Discussing in detail the causes and processes of migration to Assam from the pre-independence period to the post-independence present and its negative and serious effects on the wider Assamese society and the entire North Eastern Region, she said that the problem of infiltration is not only a regional problem of Assam or the North East, but it is also related to the national security, sovereignty and cultural identity of different communities across India.
Professor Saikia was the keynote speaker at the lecture series titled “Changing Demography of Assam: Illegal Infiltration and its Impact on Security, Society and Personal Identity.”
At the event moderated by Arupah Barthakur, member of the study group, Prof. Nandita Saikia
highlighted several important and meaningful aspects of the changes taking place in the demography of Assam. In particular, she gave a factual presentation on the history of illegal migration in Assam, the estimated statistical pattern of infiltration in the present, the process of settlement of illegal migrants, the social impact, the possible troubled future and the essential role of Assamese society.
She also mentioned in her speech that infiltration has led to an increase in ‘Love Jihad’ and criminal activities in Assam, and also caused a crisis in the local language and culture. He also remarked that at present, a territory equivalent to Sikkim has been encroached upon by infiltrators in Assam.
To address this serious problem, she stressed the need for an active role by government and civil society, along with support for an updated, error-free NRC. She warned that if this issue of demographic change is not taken seriously now, Assam may also face volatile situations like Kashmir in the future.
She also opined that the problem of infiltration in Assam and the North East is not spontaneous but the result of a planned and orchestrated process by a section. At the same time, she alleged that some groups have used Assam as a political bastion for their selfish interests by making it the epicentre of this serious problem at different times.
At the end of the solemn lecture programme attended by more than a hundred members of the audience, Prof. Kalpana Bora, Head, Department of Physics, Gauhati University, proposed the vote of thanks, and Chinmoy Kishore, a member of the study group, recited the Shanti Mantra.
