“Standard Congress policy is to stay in power at all cost” (recommended video)

Ahmedabad, 7 September 2012

Assam BJP General Secretary and IIM Ahmedabad pass out Shri Prodyut Bora was in Ahmedabad today. He addressed a gathering at Thakorbhai Desai hall in Amdavad on the subject of Assam and national security. Before that he interacted with media persons. Here is a brief interaction with Shri Bora in which he speaks about the root causes of Assam conflict and possible ways of its sustained solution.

When asked about the roots of Assam conflict Shri Bora replied:

-Assam crisis is not communal conflict. The fight in Assam is between sons of the soil and Bangladeshi illegal migrants.

-There are two main reasons responsible for the clashes. One is population, and another is land. Assam’s demographic situation has changed seriously in last 20-25 years. In 1971 Muslim population in Assam was 24.5%. In 1981 census was not conducted due to students agitation, but in 1991 Muslim population was 28.4%. In 2001 it was 30.9% and in 2011 Muslim population has been 34% as per our knowledge. Now in any society when such change in population takes place, clashes are likely to occur.

-Now the question is that whether such change has come to effect naturally due to larger family? The answer is – a single family can not have 10-12 children. Any size of large family would not bring such change. New Muslims have not arrived from Gujarat, Kashmir or elsewhere. There is a large scale illegal migration from Bangladesh and due to this the Bhumiputras including Hindus and Muslims are disturbed.

-In Assam, very large land is reserved for tribal. 16,59,00 ha land is reserved for tribal. Now this land has been encroached. According to an unofficial figure available, 60% tribal land is encroached and most part of this is occupied by Bangladeshi intruders. So population and land are two main factors that triggered Kokrajhar conflict.

When asked about solution of the problem, Shri Prodyut Bora suggested following points:

-Protection of tribal land and removal of illegal occupiers.

-National register of citizens should be implemented immediately.

-Sealing of Indo-Bangladesh border is must. This should be done as it has been done on Indo-Pakistan border where shoot at sight orders are issued and fencing with electric current is in place. When it comes to Indo-Bangladesh border, fencing is not electrified, shoot at sight orders are not issued, 8 km border is open without flood light. P.Chidambaram had visited north east and had said that on Indo-Bangla border shoot at sight orders will not be controlled.

-Population should be controlled immediately. Government welfare schemes should be limited to family size.

When asked about Congress’s role, Shri Bora replied:

-Assam accord has not been implemented even after 27 years. This is not only Congress government’s failure but it exposes Congress’s intention. Whether Bangladeshis or separatists, or anti-nationals, Congress would support any of them to stay in power. It has been standard Congress policy to stay in power at all cost.