TEZPUR, Dec 18 - �The Bangladeshi infiltration into the northeastern region over the years is gradually making the indigenous people a minority section. The ongoing NRC upgradation process will provide citizenship to the illegal Bangladeshis.� It was the opinion of noted Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika, who was speaking at an awareness meeting organised by the Probojon Birudhi Mancha, Asom on the burning topic of Bangladeshi infiltration, at the Sahitya Sabha Bhawan here today.
Representing the Assam chapter of the anti-infiltration platform, Upamanyu Hazarika, who has been fighting for the cause through the apex court of India for the last several years, further pointed out that the then Union Home Minister Jai Prakash Agarwal admitted in the Parliament on July 14, 2004 that till 2001, there were 50 lakh infiltrators in Assam against the 2.61 crore population, which means 20 per cent of the population were illegal foreigners.
�However, as per the report published in the white paper of the State Government of Assam in October 2012, from 1985 to 2012 only 2,482 foreigners were extradited. With this backdrop, we can say that the government is giving importance to the issue, but it is a matter of fact that the process is quite mum in detecting Bangladeshis for which the clause No. 5.8 of the Assam Accord is allegedly violated by the government,� he said. In this clause, it was clearly mentioned that foreigners coming to Assam after March 25, 1971 should as per law come under the process of detection, deletion and expulsion, he added.
Hazarika observed that even after 30 years of the Assam Accord, no any notable action was seen taken in this regard; rather through the ongoing NRC upgradation process, the government is going to provide citizenship to the illegal foreigners posing a serious threat to the very existence of the indigenous people of the region. Expressing strong resentment over the shrewdness of every government on the issue, the noted lawyer further stated that providing advantage to the foreigners to occupy grazing lands, reserved forests and tribal belt blocks, the government �is giving walkover to the Bangladeshis to avail Indian citizenship.�
