GUWAHATI, Sept 17 - Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that Assam would not be allowed to be overburdened with people from across the border.
Reacting strongly to the statement of Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh that Assam would only have to bear the burden of minority immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan, Gogoi said that the attitude and approach of the Central Government to impose things from the top is contrary to the spirit of cooperative federalism.
�The manner in which the present dispensation at the Centre is trying to impose things from the top undermines the spirit of cooperative federalism. It seems as if the States have no say at all,� Gogoi said, adding that the State Government would not allow the identity of the Assamese people to be put at stake.
The Chief Minister said barring those who have been staying in the State for a long time due to religious and other persecution, the State would not be allowed to be overburdened. �People of Assam know how to fight it out and to preserve their identity. Our Government is for safeguarding their identity,� he added.
He also said that the State Government has all along been urging the Centre to strengthen barbed wire fencing, intensifying riverine patrolling, floodlighting, increasing of BoPs, improving border roads and other measures to stop illegal influx from across the border.
AGP flays Centre: Meanwhile, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government is not at all bothered to safeguard the interests of Assam. This has been proved by the statement made by Union Minister VK Singh here yesterday, said AGP president Atul Bora in a statement here.
The Central Government is out to impose an additional burden of foreign nationals on Assam. But all such attempts of the Central Government would be resisted, he added.
Lambasting the seven BJP MPs from the State for their silence over the issue, Bora dared them to make their stand clear on the issue. He also maintained that the BJP-led Government at the Centre has been busy to make Assam a grazing land for the foreign nationals, contrary to the pledge it had made at its rallies ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
But, the people of Assam did not cast their votes in favour of the BJP to make Assam a grazing land for the foreign nationals, Bora reminded the BJP leaders.
