Assam is beginning in Northeast for BJP: Sarbananda Sonowal
People of North East have started accepting BJP as the alternative, says CM candidate.
New Delhi: Flush with the colossal and unprecedented success in the Assam polls, CM-designate Sarbananda Sonowal has said Assam is just the beginning in the Northeast for the BJP.
“We are going to capture the entire Northeast because the people of the region have now started to accept the BJP as the future alternative,” Mr Sonowal, 54, told this newspaper over the phone, adding that this was his first interview to a national daily after the results.
Three of the seven states in the Northeast are overwhelmingly Christian-majority states, while the others have substantial non-Hindu minority components.
Besides being minister of state for sports now and a prominent student leader of the powerful All-Assam Students Union earlier, Mr Sonowal has another claim to fame. He played the key role in taking the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration to the Supreme Court, that led to the scrapping of the contentious Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act. Illegal immigration, ostensibly, will be a priority.
“As per our plan, the Assam Accord will be the basis to tackle the issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants will be detected through the system and as per the directions of the Supreme Court,” Mr Sonowal said, negating a proposal by a BJP member during the campaign that 1951 would be the cut-off year for detecting foreigners.