‘People want Himanta behind bars’: Gogoi slams CM over evictions, infiltration
APCC chief’s remarks followed CM Sarma’s social media post announcing deportation of 36 Bangladesh nationals from 2 districts
A file image of Gaurav Gogoi with other Congress leaders in Lakhimpur. (Photo:@GauravGogoiAsm/X)
Guwahati, August 26: The Assam Congress has stepped up its attack on Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, with state party president Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday claiming that the people of Assam no longer want to see him as Chief Minister, but “behind bars.”
Addressing the press in Majuli, Gogoi alleged that Sarma’s government had displaced people from all walks of life in the name of property accumulation.
“The Chief Minister has spared no one in his greed to accumulate property in the name of his family. They have made people from every community—be it Bengalis, tribals, minorities, Scheduled Castes or OBCs—homeless by bulldozing their houses. This is why the government’s popularity is declining, and in the coming days, the people of Assam will want to see Himanta Biswa Sarma not as a Chief Minister but behind bars,” Gogoi said.
He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of failing to act against illegal infiltration despite being in power for a decade.
“It is the duty of both the Assam government and the Centre to ensure border security. If infiltrators are still entering after 10 years of BJP rule, then who is responsible?” Gogoi asked.
On the issue of illegal immigration, the Congress leader reiterated his party’s stance: “No Bangladeshi should stay illegally in Assam. Our stand is clear, and the people are more aware than the Chief Minister. Just as his politics on infiltration failed in Jharkhand, it will fail in Assam too.”
His remarks came a day after Chief Minister Sarma announced on social media that 36 Bangladeshi nationals had been deported from Sribhumi and South Salmara districts.
While he did not specify the date of deportation, Sarma stressed that illegal immigrants posed a threat to the rights and identity of indigenous people.
“These illegal infiltrators change our demography and infringe upon the rights of the indigenous. They will be pushed back to where they belong,” Sarma wrote.
According to official reports, over 400 illegal immigrants have been deported from Assam in recent months as part of an ongoing operation.