GUWAHATI, April 7 - Infiltration has been a major poll plank in all Assam polls for the past four decades and the Assembly election this year is no exception.
While BJP is pledging to resolve the issue, the ruling Congress claims it has already taken initiative in this regard by updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Leading the BJP�s campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government would not allow infiltration and resolve it as a top priority.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, however, asserted there is no Bangladeshi in the State and �my government took the initiative to get the NRC updated and the process is on�.
�The updated NRC will bring to end issues of infiltration from Bangladesh. There are people who believe infiltration is still going on despite erection of a barbed wire fencing and intensified BSF patrolling along the border,� Gogoi said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, during his election campaign in the State, appealed to the people to give the government some time to completely seal the Indo-Bangla border so that no infiltrators could infiltrate into India.
Along with illegal infiltration, Rajnath said, there has been huge movement of fake currencies from the neighbouring country affecting the economy.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that relation with Bangladesh was never as good as it is now and the BJP would take this opportunity to resolve the issue as it was a matter of national security.
BJP�s alliance partner AGP has demanded that all clauses of the Assam Accord be implemented and infiltration issue be resolved.
The AGP had spearheaded a six-year-long agitation for detection and deportation of Bangladeshi migrants, which led to the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985.
However, the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), with a traditional support of the minorities, asserted that no harassment of genuine Indians will be tolerated in the name of identifying foreigners.
�Besides updation of the NRC, the Congress has taken steps to develop villages along the Indo-Bangla border, installing floodlights and border fencing during the UPA rule,� Gogoi said, adding that the BJP and AGP raise the infiltration issue only before elections.
The problem of infiltration has persisted for decades with a long-drawn agitation in which many lives were lost, but there has been no solution as the Congress is not interested in resolving it, AGP president Atul Bora alleged.
Gogoi countered asking why AGP, which was in power for two terms in the State, and its alliance partner BJP at the Centre for more than 6 years did not resolve the issue.
The NRC was expected to identify those who illegally entered Assam after 1971. � PTI
