Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched a scathing attack on the West Bengal and Jharkhand governments over the issue of Rohingya infiltration, saying there has been a marked increase in such activities in eastern India, which he perceives to be a grave threat of demographic invasion.
He termed the illegal infiltration of Rohingyas as a grave security threat to the country. He also flayed the ineffective steps taken by West Bengal to check infiltration and asked the Central government to take appropriate steps on priority.
He informed that recently, Tripura Police have detained a considerable number of Rohingyas. In 2017, Assam Police had busted a Rohingya infiltration network, the case of which was also being probed by the NIA.
He said the Centre urgently needs to engage with West Bengal on the Rohingya issue. The demographic changes in a number of eastern and northern Indian states would be "alarming" once a census is conducted, he said, and pinned those changes on appeasement policies while stating that the brunt of it was being borne by Indian states, which were impacting the country as a whole.
He criticised the West Bengal government for being soft on the matter, despite visible demographic changes in Bengal's voter lists from 2024 and 2019. He said that because of rigorous monitoring, Assam is getting less hospitable to illegal immigrants, but West Bengal and Jharkhand have not taken similar action.
He suggested steps on the lines of Tripura to check infiltration and, if this continues, added that the entire country would face a demographic crisis. Mr Sarma said Rohingyas are still entering India through the India-Bangladesh border and causing massive demographic problems in many states.
He said that the latter has not subscribed to such claim, referring to a recent statement by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee about giving shelter to those who are coming from Bangladesh.
Government Railway Police, Border Security Force and Tripura Police have detained over 155 Bangladeshi nationals and 32 Rohingyas at Agartala railway station and other places in Tripura in the past few months for their illegal entry into India.
