Curbing infiltration top priority, border with Bangladesh to be sealed, says Sarbananda Sonowal

GUWAHATI: Sealing of the borders with Bangladesh will be completed in two year's time to put an end to infiltration, Assam's chief minister-to-be Sarbananda Sonowal said today.

A product of the student movement of the 1980s during the anti-foreigners agitation, Sonowal, who steered the BJP to victory in the elections, has put the issue of infiltration and attempts to check them as his government's priority. BJP had made infiltration one of the major issues in the poll campaign.

"Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had given a two-year time frame for permanent sealing of the border. We will work towards finishing within that time frame the border sealing work, including the riverine border," he said.

He was asked how he intended to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border, an issue he spoke about soon after his party romped home in the election on Thursday.

Rajnath Singh during his on-the-spot visit to the Indo-Bangla border in Karimganj district of southern Assam in January this year had said construction of the barbed wire fence along the Assam stretch would be completed by the end of this year.

"As soon as the border is sealed permanently, the infiltration trend will stop automatically. Plus we will create awareness among the people to prevent infiltration," he had said.

Asked what method or law he intended to apply to stop infiltration from Bangladesh as he was against the now repealed Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) (IMDT) Act, Sonowal said, "when the final draft of the (ongoing) updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is published, it will be clear who are the citizens and infiltrators will get identified."

"The problem will get solved and action will then be taken against infiltrators as per existing law."

"Like the Wagah border in Punjab with Pakistan, we will also have a similar ceremony in Assam along the Indo-Bangladesh border. We will make it into a tourist spot where people can come and watch the ceremony. This will also stop infiltration," he added.