Guwahati, July 11: The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the Congress today shot back at Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia for "communalising" the foreigners issue in the state.
Yesterday, during a news conference, Togadia had demanded "expulsion" of Bangladeshi Muslims from Assam, but sought Indian citizenship for Hindus coming over from the neighbouring country.
"In Assam, there are around 70 lakh Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators. We demand the Centre detect and then deport all of them to Bangladesh," Togadia said and demanded refugee status and Indian citizenship for the Hindu migrants from Bangladesh.
The students' union also warned Togadia not to politicise religion.
"The foreigners problem of Assam must be resolved through the Assam Accord. The Accord says no one who has entered Assam from other country illegally after 1971 will be allowed to stay in the state," the president of the students' union, Dipanka Nath, said.
The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 to bring the six-year-long Assam Movement, led by the union, to an end. It was signed between the Centre, the Assam government, AASU and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad. Altogether 855 people died in the Assam Movement.
"Togadia visits Assam from time to time and leaves the state after making communal remarks. The people of Assam have not seen his willingness to implement the Assam Accord. There is no place in Assam for Bangladeshis who had entered the state illegally besides communalism and fundamentalists," the general secretary of the union, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, said.
Assam PCC spokesperson Rituparna Konwar said: "We strongly condemn the communal remarks of Togadia and warn him to avoid making such remarks in the future."
"All organisations and political parties in Assam had decided March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date to detect and deport Bangladeshi immigrants through the Assam Accord. How can Togadia challenge it?" Konwar asked.
The PCC said Togadia's remarks could be a design of the Sangh Parivar to protect the Sarbananda Sonowal government from its failures.
"It is also a design to divert people's attention from the main issues such as floods, erosion and unemployment," Konwar said.
Kaliabor MP Gaurav Gogoi also criticised Togadia. "He has insulted the memory of 855 Assam Agitation martyrs by demanding the Citizenship Amendment Bill. We will defend the historic Assam Accord against all attempts to compromise our state's identity and culture," he said.
Yesterday, Togadia had supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which seeks to enable Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who had fled to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh without valid travel documents or those whose documents have expired in recent years, to acquire Indian citizenship through the process of naturalisation.
