Modi in Assam
Credit: PIB
Guwahati: The Opposition parties including the Congress have been trying to block the "strong steps" being adopted by the Centre to identify the "infiltrators", to protect their vote bank, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in poll-bound Assam on Saturday.
"The Centre has taken strict measures to stop infiltration, with identification processes underway to remove illegal infiltrators. But the Opposition and their alliance have openly adopted anti-national agendas, even as the Supreme Court has spoken about removing infiltrators."
"These parties are issuing statements in defense of infiltrators, and their lawyers are pleading in court to settle them. When the Election Commission is conducting the SIR process to ensure fair elections, these groups are opposing it," Modi said while addressing a crowd after inaugurating the new terminal of the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBI) at Borjhar in Guwahati.
The LGBI airport is one of the eight airports being operated by the Adani Group in the country.
Modi alleged that during the post-Independence decades, Congress had given free hand to the infiltraotrs in Assam and Bengal for vote bank politics. "The infiltrators occupied our forests, our land and resources. As a result, identity and safety of Assam were at stake. In Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma government is clearing our forests and lands from the infiltrators."
"Such people will not protect the interests of Assamese brothers and sisters, and will allow others to occupy their land and forests. Their anti-national mindset could recreate the violence and unrest of earlier times," Modi said.
The PM also charged that Congress government in the past neglected the development of Assam and the Northeast, which "resulted in a sense of alienation and conflicts". "In the past 11 years, we have been trying to correct those sins committed by Congress. Lakhs of crores are being invested to revamp infrastructure and to script new chapters of growth in the region. The Northeast is being transformed into India's gateway to South East Asia through the Act East Policy," Modi said.
The PM is on a two-day visit to Assam, where Assembly elections are scheduled in March-April. BJP has set a target to win the elections for the third straight term in Assam. Foreigners issue is one of the main poll planks of BJP.