47,928 foreigners detected in 43 years in Assam; 43% of them Hindus

Guwahati: The Assam government on Thursday said over 47,900 foreigners have been detected in the state from 1971 to 2014, out of which more than 43 per cent are Hindus.

In a written reply to a query by AGP MLA Ponakan Baruah, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Foreigners Tribunal (FT) has declared 47,928 people as foreigners between 1971 and 2014.

Out of them, 27,309 were Muslims, 20,613 Hindus and six belonged to other religions, he said.

The CM said the highest number of foreigners was detected in Cachar. Out of 10,152 declared foreigners, 8,139 were Hindus and the remaining 2,013 were Muslims.

As per the Assam Accord, names of all foreigners coming to the state on or after March 25, 1971 would be detected and deleted from electoral rolls and steps would be taken to deport them.

Sarma said that according to the 2011 census, the state had a total Assamese speaking population of 1.51 crore, making up 48.38 per cent of the 3.12 crore residents.

There were 90.24 lakh Bengali speaking people, both Hindus and Muslims, in the state -- 28.92 per cent of the total population, he said.

On Baruah's question if the state government was aware of the fact that the number of people speaking non-Assamese languages are rising and creating a threat to the indigenous communities, Sarma said the dispensation is monitoring the situation.