GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma flagged off concerns about changing demographics in the State and how illegal immigrants can alter election results in Vidhan Sabha constituencies. He stated that Bangladesh origin Muslims have a clear strategy to take over 3-5 constituencies each election by increasing their population, eventually grabbing power in the state after a few decades.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma further stated, “Earlier, when I was not the chief minister, I did not have access to intelligence files. But now I have them and these reports talk about a blueprint to take over constituencies after constituencies. Their common thought is to turn around the demography and emerge as the majority to take control of power at Dispur by 2050…If we can stop this from happening, it will be a big achievement for us.”
While speaking to the media, Sarma stated that the goal of the illegal immigrants was to capture power at Dispur by 2050 through demographic change. The Assam CM stated that the illegal encroachment at Dholpur in Darrang district was part of the plan to take control of the Sipajhar Vidhan Sabha constituency. He added that most people in the area (6000 out of an estimated 10000 people) did not have their names in the preliminary list of the National Register of Citizens.
The Assam CM clarified that his reference was to immigrants from Bangladesh and not native Assamese Muslims. He said that the native Muslims were not part of the vicious blueprint to change the demography of the State. “In fact, the desi Muslims are complaining to me that their mosques have been grabbed by these illegal settlers,” he emphasised.
In Assam, Muslims are categorised into two categories, Bengali speaking Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, both legal and illegal, and native Assamese Muslims, descendants of native Assamese who had converted to Islam centuries ago. He also stated that in the last Vidhan Sabha election, constituencies such as Batadraba, Barkhetri, and Mangaldai constituencies fell to illegal immigrants.