Will India-Bangladesh Border Issues Polarise Voters In Assam?, Rajnath Singh, Assam Assembly election 2016,Assam poll, Dhubri ,Assam, AASU,BJP,Congress
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- Category: Assam Political News
- Last Updated: Monday, 11 January 2016 15:55
Will India-BangladeshBorder Issues Polarise Voters In Assam?, Rajnath Singh, AssamAssembly election 2016,Assam poll, Dhubri,Assam, AASU,BJP,Congress
GUWAHATI: With Assam heading for elections, the political focus in the state has shifted to the India-Bangladesh border. The Centre plans to quickly seal the gaps in this border as a part of its election promise to check illegal migration from Bangladesh.
Last week, Home Minister Rajnath Singh inspected the India-Bangladesh border at Dhubri, a district in lower Assam that shares 135 kilometres of border with Bangladesh. In election season, Mr Singh's visit signals that his party, the BJP, is all set to raise the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, which has shaped the state's politics for nearly 40 years now and polarised voters.
"I understand this is a serious concern and it is sad that borders have been neglected... We have allocated funds to complete border sealing in Karimganj by 2016. Even for Dhubri, we have formed an expert committee and would start a pilot project to complete border sealing," Mr Singh had said during the visit.
With 44 kilometres of riverine border, Dhubri has always been a battleground for political parties.
The BJP and other regional parties often allege Dhubri to be a Ground Zero of illegal migration, cattle smuggling and fake currencies - a charge denied by the local MP and head of All India United Democratic Front or AIUDF Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal. His party is said to be very popular among Bengali speaking settlers.