GUWAHATI, Sept 10 � Accusing the BJP-led NDA of turning a blind eye to Assam�s pressing problems, public activist Prof Deven Dutta today said that life-and-death issues such as illegal cross-border migration, recurring floods and erosion, stagnant agriculture, etc., were continued to be ignored by the new dispensation in the same manner as was done by the preceding Congress-led UPA regime.
�There is very little to differentiate between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi when it comes to addressing the burning issues of Assam. Similarly, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati and Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh have also made it clear that Assam�s genuine interests are never a priority for them,� Prof Dutta said in a statement.
Pointing out that just ahead of the last Lok Sabha polls Modi could find time to visit Assam several times and also to announce pompously that all illegal Bangladeshi migrants would have to leave Assam after May 16, but now at a time when Assam is witnessing a prolonged worsening law and order neither Modi nor Rajnath Singh have the time to visit the State.
�Similarly, in spite of the recurring floods and erosion wreaking havoc with Assam�s agriculture and pushing the farming community to the brink, Rajmohan Singh and Uma Bharati have not bothered to visit the State,� he said.
Drawing a parallel to the Central assistance being given to Jammu & Kashmir following the recent devastating floods, Prof Dutta said that he was not opposing the assistance to flood-hit J&K but that the developments laid bare the discrimination in the Centre�s attitude towards a similar menace in Assam.
�The same discriminator approach becomes evident again when one takes into account the contrasting border security arrangements along the Assam-Bangladesh border and the Indo-Pak border. While a foolproof mechanism is there along the Indo-Pak border, the Indo-Bangla border along the Assam stretch remains porous despite large-scale illegal migration for decades,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that not a single political party � be it Congress, BJP, AGP, and the left � was concerned with the issue of illegal migration, and that all the parties were interested only in furthering their cheap vote-bank politics. �Some parties want Muslim migrants while some are for Hindu migrants. Some want both,� he added.
