Assam people must decide between vote bank politics and development: CM Himanta

Dibrugarh: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that the time has come for people to think and make a choice whether they want 'vote bank politics' or take forward the development journey launched by his government during the last five years.

The state will go to the polls in the next few months, and people must decide whether they want to ''surrender to Bangladeshi Muslims'' or be part of progress and development, the chief minister said in his address at the Republic Day function here.

He said that earlier, Republic and Independence Days in the state were marked by violence and insurgency, but now ''we are among the fastest growing states in the country''.

''We have decided not to surrender to the Bangladeshi Muslims who have encroached upon huge areas of land and threatened our identity, culture and traditions. We have started the process of reclaiming our land by evicting the encroachers,'' he said.

Sarma said that his government was committed to protect people's 'maati' (land), 'bheti' (foundation), 'sanskriti' (culture) and 'parichay' (identity) to protect and secure the rights of the future generation.

He urged people to remain ''atal (firm), abichal (unwavering) and 'agragami' (forward moving) in their quest to ensure that their identity is not threatened and the development journey started by this government leads to the establishment of Assam as the leading state of the country''.