How did they enter Bihar?: Tipra Motha supremo questions infiltration, calls for electoral roll revision in Tripura

"Bihar shares a border with Nepal. But how did the Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals enter Bihar? They must have entered through the states which shares border with Bangladesh and Myanmar. " Deb Barma, scion of Tripura's erstwhile kingdom, who has been vocal about illegal migration, said in a video, on Sunday.

Guwahati: Alarmed over reports about detection of many people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar in the electoral rolls in Bihar, Pradyot Deb Barma, the founder of Tipra Motha, an ally of BJP in Tripura on Sunday demanded a similar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the Northeastern states.

"Bihar shares a border with Nepal. But how did the Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals enter Bihar? They must have entered through the states which shares border with Bangladesh and Myanmar.

"We want that a similar roll revision be carried out in Tripura and rest of the Northeast for detection of illegal migrants," Deb Barma, scion of Tripura's erstwhile kingdom, who has been vocal about illegal migration, said in a video, on Sunday.

Deb Barma posted the video hours after reports said that Election Commission (EC) detected that migrants from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar made it to the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

"The MLAs and other leaders of Tipra Motha will soon write to the EC with a request for such a revision. We will also appeal that officials from the indigenous communities should also be made part of the roll revision exercise in Tripura and rest of the Northeast.

"We are in talks with the regional parties in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur to raise the same demand to detect, delete (from the rolls) and deport the illegal migrants," Deb Barma said. "The national parties may not do anything due to vote bank politics."

Tipra Motha has 13 MLAs in the 60-member Tripura Assembly and is in power of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.

The Northeastern region shares borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, a large part of which has still remained porous. Tipra Motha and some regional parties have been demanding action against prevention of illegal migration and carry out a drive for detection and deportation. "The indigenous people have already become minorities in their own land, even in Tripura. Manipur is going through a turmoil due to this problem," he said.

An exercise to update the Natiional Register of Citizens was carried out in Assam but the final draft has not yet been notified by the Register General of India. More than 19.06 lakh applicants were kept out of the list, which was prepared based on cut-off date of March 24, 1971. The cut-off was decided after the Assam Agitation, between 1979 and 1985.