Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has emphasised the need to ensure the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh, rather than prioritising their migration to India. Speaking on Friday, Sarma highlighted the importance of securing the Hindu population within Bangladesh, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to engage with the Bangladesh government to ensure their protection.
“Our point is not to bring them, one or two will come but the rest must stay. So our request to the Prime Minister is that we should discuss and put pressure on the Bangladesh government so that there can be security for Hindus there. We brought 10 people here but what about the remaining 20? And when they come here, they will not have the lands that they had there, they will find nothing when they return,” Sarma remarked.
The Chief Minister added that relocating Hindus to India could result in them becoming refugees, which is undesirable. “India is a big country and with a little effort, we can protect Hindu people in Bangladesh. So bringing them here is not a priority, the first preference is to ensure the safety of the people there. Otherwise, whoever is studying, someone is studying medical 1st year and where will he take admission for the second year, if we bring them here, we will have to put them in a refugee camp. Good doctors, engineers will become refugees while coming to India. So we don't want Hindus to become refugees. I want Hindu people to live with dignity. And I think the Prime Minister is working, very soon we will get a good result," he asserted.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Sarma also emphasised the global responsibility to ensure the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh, writing, "Other countries around the world should also pressure to ensure that Hindus remain safe in Bangladesh."
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Hindus Staying And Fighting In Bangladesh, 35 Muslim Infiltrators Arrested In A Month: Assam CM Himanta Sarma
On Saturday, Sarma further claimed that there has been no attempt by Hindus to enter India from Bangladesh since the neighbouring country’s recent instability.
"Hindus are staying and fighting in Bangladesh. In the last one month, not a single Hindu person has been detected trying to enter India,” he stated during a Saturday press conference. However, he pointed out that Muslim infiltrators have been attempting to cross into India to seek employment in the textile sector. “35 Muslim infiltrators have been arrested in the past one month... they are trying to enter... but those coming are headed for Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore to work in the textile industry,” Sarma claimed, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The Assam Chief Minister noted that those infiltrators who attempted to cross through Tripura and reach South Indian cities were intercepted by the Assam and Tripura police forces, along with the Border Security Force (BSF). Sarma made it clear that Hindus who wished to migrate would have done so during the Partition and maintained that Bangladesh remains their homeland.
On the matter of Bengali Hindus who migrated to India before the 2014 cut-off under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Sarma assured that their numbers in Assam would be far less than the 20 lakh claimed by anti-CAA activists. He mentioned that the Assam government is taking steps to ease the citizenship process for these immigrants by directing the police not to visit them and trying to dispose of cases in Foreigners’ Tribunals.
Sarma also touched upon the potential impact of the upcoming Bangladesh elections on the insurgency situation in the northeast. He cautioned that if an anti-India government were to come to power in Bangladesh, it could lead to complications, including bolstering the strength of the Paresh Barua-led ULFA (I), PTI reported.
“We cannot undermine this, but the police should have more power to control the situation. I won’t say ULFA(I) is a dying organisation, but we have had peace for the last three years and we will continue to ensure it,” Sarma concluded.