Mahanta wants rehab policy for Bangladeshi Hindu migrants

GUWAHATI: Amid rising attacks on Hindus by Islamic militants in Bangladesh, former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta raised the fear of exodus of minorities from the neighbouring country to Northeast in general and Assam in particular.
With cross border infiltration already a burning issue in Assam, , Mahanta on Monday asked the centre to formulate a proper rehabilitation policy to deal with an exodus situation so that the state is not made a “victim again” in case minorities from the neighbouring country starts seeking shelter in India.
Mahanta, who is also part of the BJP-led government in the state, said the recent attack by terrorists and selective killing of non-Muslims by them in Dhaka has made clear that organized terror has arrived in the neighbouring Bangladesh.
“This should alert Northeasterners in general and Assamese in particular, especially after killing of two Hindu priests by Islamists backed terrorists (in Bangladesh). There are estimated 1.7 Crore Hindus in that country. They are living in fear and will try to migrate to India at the earliest,” Mahanta said.
The former president of Asom Gana Parishad, the party he founded after the six-year long anti-foreigner movement from 1979 to 1985, Mahanta said centre’s earlier notification of allowing shelter on humanitarian ground to persecuted religious minorities from Bangladesh and Pakistan in India, is likely to fasten the migration of Hindus from the neighbouring country.
“We want the NDA government to formulate a clear policy for their (migrants) rehabilitation and settlement so that Assam is not made a victim again for short political gains by any political party. Our demand for strict implementation of Assam Accord is the only solution to the problem, and there should be no dilution of same,” Mahanta, one of the signatories in the Assam Accord, signed in 1985, said. BJP had earlier made its stand clear that it wanted citizenship to Hindu refugees from Bangladesh sheltered in India, but the state unit of the saffron party was almost silent on the issue in the run-up to the assembly polls, primarily due to the fear of losing Assamese voters. Also the BJP did not want to dissatisfy its AGP which is opposed to citizenship to Hindu refugees.