Guwahati: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the unrest in Bangladesh increased the influx of Muslims into India through the borders in the Northeast.
Sarma said nearly 50 such Muslim migrants have been either arrested or pushed back from Assam since the unrest unfolded. "Most worked in textile industries and fled as the industries halted operations. Most were headed to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to work in textile industries. This is a concern for the country. I will write a letter to Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin soon with a request to check antecedents of those who recently joined the textile industries in his state," Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.
Hindus are not coming as suspected by many in Assam following the unrest in Bangladesh, he said.
He said three such migrants including a woman were pushed back from Karimganj in South Assam at around 5 am on Wednesday. "We are deploying additional police personnel in railway stations and other places in Karimganj to detect such illegal migrants," he said. "BSF has also intensified drive and vigil against such influx in Tripura and Meghalaya," he said.
Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Bengal share the 4,096km border with Bangladesh but influx and trafficking often takes place through the porous stretches of the border.
Sarma said his government would soon release a white paper to highlight the demographic changes that took place due to illegal migration of Muslims into Assam from neighbouring Bangladesh. "Out of the 28,000 polling booths, demographic changes have taken place in 23,000," he said.
FIR against Sarma:
Sarma made the claim on a day a Congress-led united forum of the Opposition parties in Assam lodged an FIR here at Dispur police station seeking his arrest for his "communal and divisive" statements in the Assembly on Tuesday. Sarma told the Assembly that he would take sides to stop the "miya" muslims (Bengali speaking Muslims) from "taking over entire Assam." He also asked the "Miya" muslims, whom BJP allege as infiltrators from Bangladesh, not to settle in the Assamese-dominated Upper Assam districts. The FIR said Sarma has been making several "provocative" statements taggeting the Muslims.
"The Chief Minister is trying to promote enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and race. Such continuous rants in public have the potential to create disharmony between different communities...If such a person is not arrested and restrained immediately, he can create a riot like situation for getting political mileage out of it," said the FIR.