Congress accuses BJP of misleading people on infiltration

ARIMGANJ/ASSAM: The ruling Congress in Assam today criticised state BJP President Sarbananda Sonowal for his statement that the UPA and Assam government ignored infiltration from Bangladesh, saying it was 'misleading'.

"Sonowal is trying to gain cheap political publicity though he himself was the main architect behind scrapping of Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal (IMDT) Act and bringing the Foreigners Act into existence," Assam Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Deepan Dewanji told reporters here.

Dewanji said that the BJP leader was trying to mislead the people of Assam in general and Barak Valley in particular by making false allegations against the central and state governments on the issue of infiltration.

"When the IMDT Act existed, the harassment of the minority community was not as common as today as according to it the onus of proving nationality lay with the complainant, while under the Foreigner's Act, the onus is on the accused," he said.

Dewanji pointed out that Sonowal should not forget that he was an active member of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and AGP and questioned what the AGP did when it was in power between 1985-1996 to stop infiltration.