Modi flags 'infiltration' from Bangladesh for the second consecutive day

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged the issue of "Bangladeshi infiltrators" for the second successive day today (21 December) during his two-day visit to the north eastern state of Assam and accused the opposition parties of continuing to push for settling the infiltrators in Assam's forest lands.

Speaking after inaugurating a fertilise plant project in Assam's Namrup, Modi said, "The opposition continues to push anti-national thinking, seeking to settle Bangladeshi infiltrators on Assam's forests and lands to strengthen its vote bank."

He said the opposition has no concern for Assam, its people or their identity and is only interested in power and government. "The opposition prefers illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators, settled them and continues to protect them," he added. 

"This is why the opposition opposes the purification of voter lists," Modi said in an apparent reference to the Special Intensive Revision of lists of the electorate in Assam and other parts of India. BJP-ruled Assam goes to a fresh assembly election in March-April next year.

Yesterday, Modi had raised the cross-border infiltration issue while speaking at a function after inaugurating the new terminal building at the airport in Guwahati city of Assam.

Modi today said Assam "must be safeguarded from the poison of the opposition's appeasement and vote-bank politics".

Underlining the continuously increasing role of eastern and north east India's in building a developed India, he reiterated that eastern India will become the growth engine of the country's development.

Modi said the new Namrup fertiliser unit is a symbol of this transformation as the urea produced there will not only serve Assam's agriculture fields but also reach Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and eastern part of Uttar Pradesh.

"Projects like Namrup demonstrate that in the coming time, the North East will emerge as a major center of self-reliant India," he added.