- Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal highlighted BJP’s work in Assam over 11 years versus Congress rule
- He claimed Congress left hundreds of kilometers of Assam’s border open to illegal immigrants
- BJP has sealed the border, evicted illegal occupants, and retrieved over 1.5 lakh acres of land
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal gave a long list of work that the BJP government in Assam has done in the last 11 years, and compared them with what the Congress did. One of the key questions he tackled was on infiltration by suspected illegal immigrants, mostly from Bangladesh.
"During the Congress regime hundreds of kilometres of the border were kept open. They gave free access to infiltrators," Sonowal, who was Assam chief minister before he was made a Union Minister, said at the NDTV Assam Power Play.
"But during the last 11 years the BJP has totally sealed it. There is no more influx. Whoever is illegally occupying our land, all has been evicted. In the recent past you may have seen more than 1.5 lakh acres of land have been retrieved from suspected Bangladeshis by the BJP government," Sonowal said.
He said the BJP government has been creating a lot of provisions in land laws so that bonafide Indian citizens get their due share of their rights over land.
"So, if you protect your identity, then you have to protect your territory first. This is what BJP has been doing for the last 11 years. You know how Kaziranga was totally occupied by suspected illegal immigrants. But who did the eviction? The BJP government did it."
Another place he mentioned was the birthplace of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev, who was "also encroached upon by suspected infiltrators." "They were evicted. This is how our commitment stands," he said.
On the BJP's chance in Assam in the upcoming assembly election, Sonowal said every person in the state is confident of asserting their rights today.
"The government has enabled it. Land, language, culture, we have protected all of them. It is clear that as long as the BJP is there the country's and Assam's pride will always remain high," he said.
