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VHP flays CM over NRC cut-off year

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Feb 8 � A day after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi pitched for 1971 as the cut-off year for upgrading the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia condemned Gogoi�s stance, arguing that he was simply trying to placate Bangladeshi infiltrators in Assam who constituted his vote bank. The VHP wants 1951 as the cut-off year for the NRC.

�Gogoi is becoming an advocate for illegal Bangladeshi migrants instead of protecting the interest of Assam�s own people,� the firebrand VHP leader remarked and added that the move would one day culminate with a Bangladeshi becoming Assam�s Chief Minister.

At a press conference held at the Guwahati Press Club, Togadia, the senior VHP leader said that the Parishad was going for a countrywide �democratic response to the issue� as it was dangerous not just for Assam but for rest of the country as well.

The mass programme would be organised primarily to put pressure on the Union Government and Government of Assam to change their present stance on the cut-off year.

Togadia reiterated that Gogoi favouring 1971 was a dangerous move that would legalise the illegal status of lakhs of Bangladeshis who had entered the state with aggressive intent. �These infiltrators would be harbouring or moulding Islamic jehadis and would cause grave harm to the local people�Moreover, they would gradually grab business and agriculture when they become legal citizens of India,� he asserted.

He expressed anxiety over reports that Bangladesh and Pakistan were helping terrorists to operate in India, and upping the ante said that if he had his way he would ask the Indian Army to occupy half of Bangladesh.

Considering the situation he appealed to all residents of Assam and other parts of the country to boycott Bangladeshi migrants and ensure that they were denied any economic opportunity whatsoever. In his opinion such a move would compel the illegal migrants to return to their homeland.

In order to carry out this campaign every Indian in Assam should join hands regardless of his origins, as all of them stand to lose from the wave of Bangladeshi influx. Revealing details about the proposed campaign he said that from October members of VHP and Bajrang Dal would fan out to all the villages of Assam and spread the message about boycotting the Bangladeshi workforce in areas such as agriculture, business and construction. In other parts of the country the Parishad would similarly campaign to replace the Bangladeshi workforce with local labour.

He warned that Assam would have a situation similar to Jammu and Kashmir if the influx and appeasement of illegal Bangladeshi migrants continued unabated. �A time would come when they would call the shots and make local people refugees with no place to go,� he claimed and reasoned that people should start identifying Bangladeshis and reporting them to the police for further action.

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