Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in the state Assembly on Monday that his government will “expedite” the operation to push back “illegal infiltrators” while revealing that it had already sent back 330 infiltrators over the past few months.

He said the pushback operation carried out under the provisions of the Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act, 1950 on the basis of a 2024 Supreme Court ruling on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act.

Assam has a BJP-led coalition government since 2016. It has intensified crackdown on illegal immigrants following last month’s
directive by the MHA to the states to act against illegal foreigners.

The Assam government has been in the headlines of late over its policy pushing back of illegal foreigners to neighbouring Bangladesh. Influx from Bangladesh is a major issue in assam.

Sarma said, according to the ruling, the state government can go for pushback or any direct action without going to the foreigners tribunals, which determines citizenship cases in the state.

“In our vigorous fight against illegal infiltration, we draw strength from a special provision which empowers DCs to identify and expel infiltrators from Assam,” he said during the special one-day assembly session.