Will Drive Illegals Out of the Country: Shah
Shah also accused previous Congress governments of failing to honour the sacrifices made during the Assam Movement.
Guwahati: Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said the BJP was committed to driving out infiltrators from the country, beginning with Assam. He said this while inaugurating the Rs 227-crore redeveloped Batadrava Than, the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardeva, in Assam’s Nagaon district.
Addressing a gathering at the Batadrava Cultural Project, Shah expressed anguish over what he described as encroachment of the sacred site by Bangladeshi infiltrators in the past. He recalled that Batadrava Than is the birthplace of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva, the revered Vaishnav saint and social reformer.
Praising Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for removing encroachments and restoring the sanctity of the Namghar at the site, Shah said, “The BJP has resolved to remove all infiltrators from the entire country.” He asked the gathering whether it was right for infiltrators to occupy a place associated with Sankardeva.
Launching a sharp attack on the Congress, the home minister alleged that the party had treated infiltrators as a vote bank, despite them posing a threat to Assam’s people, culture and identity. Backing the ongoing eviction drive, he said more than one lakh bighas of land had been freed from encroachment in the State.
Shah also accused previous Congress governments of failing to honour the sacrifices made during the Assam Movement. “Congress ruled for many years but did nothing for those who laid down their lives for the Assam Movement,” he said.
Invoking the legacy of Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi, Assam’s first Chief Minister, Shah credited him with ensuring that Assam and the Northeast remained part of India. “If Gopinath Bordoloi had not been there, Assam and the entire Northeast would not have remained with India. He compelled Jawaharlal Nehru to keep Assam within the Indian Union,” he said.
Describing Batadrava Than as a symbol of Assamese unity and harmony, Shah said it embodied the inclusive nav-vaishnav dharma propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva, where people from all communities come together.
Addressing the gathering, Himanta Biswa Sarma said the State government had freed around 1.45 lakh bighas of land from illegal encroachers over the past decade and would continue the drive. He appealed to encroachers to voluntarily vacate Satra and government lands.
Developed over 162 bighas of encroachment-free land at a cost of about Rs 217 crore, the Batadrava Cultural Project aims to emerge as a world-class spiritual and cultural tourism hub, showcasing Assam’s heritage and promoting Sankardeva’s ideals of devotion, equality and social harmony.
Earlier in the day, Shah inaugurated a new Rs 111-crore building of the Guwahati Police Commissionerate and the Rs 189-crore Integrated Command and Control System (ICCS) to strengthen the city’s security infrastructure. He also inaugurated the Rs 291-crore Jyoti Bishnu Cultural Complex, a 5,000-seat auditorium, in Guwahati.