BJP flays Tarun Gogoi over refugee tag for immigrants

GUWAHATI: The BJP on Friday said that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s move to seek refugee status for people who have come to India from Bangladesh owing to various persecutions was part of his political agenda and intended to corner Hindu Bengali votes in 2014 parliamentary polls.

BJP spokesperson Shiladitya Dev said that during the last Assembly elections in 2011, Gogoi had made similar promises, though nothing was done to keep his promise. Gogoi had recently said that he would make a proposal to the Centre to declare immigrants coming from East Pakistan because of various persecutions as refugees.

“This will mean a central law for those who were forced to leave their homes. It will be in the lines of political asylum,” he said. The BJP alleged that Gogoi has vowed to resolve the issue of doubtful voters, or D-voters, but has failed. The electoral rolls in Assam have a unique brand of voters, categorised as D-voters.

The identity of these voters is doubtful and their names are yet to be cleared by the Foreigners’ Tribunal. Dev said the number of D-voters has increased manifold. The Congress has always used the D-voter issue to blackmail the Hindu voters. “If Gogoi is interested to protect the Hindu migrants, he should immediately ask all district administrations to stop harassing the Bengali Hindu voters.” He said there are instances where the police have been deporting genuine Hindu Migrants without any order of the Foreigners’ Tribunal.

“The Congress, known for its appeasement to minority voters, has lately realised in Assam that the Muslims are no longer their vote bank and has been snatched by Maulana Badduruddin Ajmal and his AIUDF”.