NEW DELHI, Feb 12 � In the battle of wits between AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the minority leader dragged in Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to claim that detection of only 9000 illegal migrants during Prafulla Kumar Mahanta�s two terms was proof enough that the figure of illegal Bangladeshi migrants was blown out of proportion.
An agitated Ajmal described the Chief Minister as anti-Muslim though, he said, he cannot paint the Congress party with the same brush, as Muslims also vote for the ruling party.
Ajmal, who was ousted as the president of Assam unit of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH), saw Gogoi�s hand behind a series of litigations being filed in the High Court and Supreme Court against the illegal migrants in Assam.
�The Assam Public Works is cent per cent supported by Gogoi. It has recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court calling for deletion of over 40 lakh Muslim voters from the electoral rolls in the name of clearing off the voter�s list of foreigners�, he alleged.
Had the Election Commission of India agreed then the names of these voters would have been struck off the list. Similarly, there are petition in the high court pending hearing over the same issue, he charged.
It was also Ajmal�s contention that notices were being served in various districts on Muslims to submit documents within a week to prove their citizenship.
There is a conspiracy to debar the Muslims from voting, as they have by and large opposed the Congress rule in Assam because of anti-minority policies of the government, he claimed.
Stating that the illegal infiltration issue has become highly politicised, which is raked up only during elections, Ajmal said AGP, which ruled the State twice, could detect a negligible number of illegal migrants, proving that the population figure was highly exaggerated.
Claiming that JUH�s action has come as a blessing in disguise, Ajmal said he is planning to contest in 85 seats in Assam out of which he hopes to wrest 25 seats.
When asked what he would do, if Mahmud Madani faction too joins hands with the Congress like Arshad Madani faction, a taken aback Ajmal said he would fight Mahmud Madani as well.
The Arshad Madani faction of JUH dissolved the State unit and replaced it with a 25-member ad-hoc committee with Abdul Jalil Raghibi as chief convenor.
