Fear of influx of Bangladeshis in Nagaland: Governor

Nagaland Governor P B Acharya today said the spirit behind the March 5 Dimapur incident, where an alleged rapist was lynched to death by an angry mob, was influx of Bangladeshis or foreigners into the state.
"There is no question of religion in this, the manner in which the movement has taken shape, and the things that have happened, even though the spirit might have been right, but things have gone wrong and it has given a signal that Nagaland is against Muslims or the tribal people are against non-tribal," Acharya said while addressing a press conference at Raj Bhavan here this evening.

"There is a failure on the part of the government, which has been agreed by the Chief Minister and he has expressed that proper steps will be taken and I have also cautioned all the agencies how to work on it," he said.
Nonetheless, he said that the process of investigation has been bringing out many things and "now it even seems that there was no rape but it was consensual sex."
The Governor said if anybody fears there is Bangladeshi influx and they are overtaking our population it is genuine concern and if the concern is not there, the spirit of nationalism will die.

The problem of influx of Bangladeshis is not for Nagaland only but Assam is in greater danger amongst the eight states, he said, adding that influx of Bangladeshis or foreigners is very crucial for the northeastern states and it has even reached Mumbai as thousands of them have come.

Expressing that he completely agrees that influx of Bangladeshis has to be tackled, the Governor, however, said "taking law into our own hands and the way we have treated the whole issue is not acceptable."
He also appealed to all to extend cooperation to come to right conclusion so that such things does not repeat in the future.

A mob that had broken into Dimapur Central Jail and dragged out rape accused Syed Farid Khan, stripped him naked and lynched him on March 5.
Khan, who hailed Karimganj district of Assam, was arrested on the charge of raping a woman in Dimapur on February 24 and remanded in judicial custody the next day.