Advani blames illegal immigration for Assam conflict

"Today's situation has arisen firstly because of criminal delay in dealing with the situation when symptoms were already there.

"But introspection must lead to the identification of the root cause which is the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh of which serious note has been taken even by the Supreme Court," Advani told reporters here.

The BJP leader, who visited trouble-torn Kokrajhar district yesterday, said the recent events in Assam were a 'blot' on the entire country.

"I visited Kokrajhar yesterday. I can say it is very distressing when such a large number of people are rendered homeless," he said.

Making a comparison with the situation in Jammu & Kashmir, Advani hoped that no other community is made a refugee in their own country like Kashmiri Pandits, who were victims of terrorism.

He said the current conflict cannot be attributed merely as a communal or ethnic conflict alone.

"I don't attribute this issue to any communal or ethnic factors alone. They contribute in their own way. But the basic issue is the feeling that indigenous Assamese people have about being squeezed out and they are being deprived of rightful ownership of land by illegal immigration," he said.

He accused the Centre and Assam government of not taking any action to detect and deport illegal immigrants even seven years after the Supreme Court had stuck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act in July, 2005.

"I would like the Prime Minister, the Congress president and the Assam government to introspect on how this situation arose," he said.

Advani said the government's inaction in dealing with the problem of infiltrators had resulted in the indigenous communities feeling threatened. MORE