Guwahati, March 25 (IANS) Playing the 'national security' card, the BJP on Friday pledged to seal the India-Bangladesh border to stop infiltration and also to "free Assam of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants" if it came to power in the state.
In its Vision Document for 2016-25, the Bharatiya Janata Party also accused the Congress, ruling the state, of encouraging infiltration and disturbing Assam's demography in the process.
Senior BJP leader and union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the document here and said: "Our main emphasis will be on infiltration."
Jaitley said: "Since Assam is a border province and a pivotal north-eastern state, we have put emphasis on national security in our vision document so that proper arrangements can be made to stop terrorism and insurgency. There are chapters on completely sealing of the border areas and to ensure identification of foreigners, in the vision document."
The senior BJP leader also accused the Congress and the Tarun Gogoi government of using infiltration as part of their strategy of "vote bank politics".
"The Congress has all along been encouraging illegal migrations into Assam for their vote bank politics. However, if the BJP is voted to power in Assam, we are going to end the influx from the neighbouring country by sealing the International border," said Jaitley.
"In the last 15 years of the Congress rule, it failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people. However, our priority will be infiltration, and we are going to seal the India-Bangladesh border within a stipulated time to solve the problem," he said.
"The Congress has also been trying to destroy and change the demography of Assam by encouraging the influx. Although the Congress has been in power for many years in Assam, yet the state government took no action to curb the menace," he said.
Dubbing the Gogoi government as a failure, Jaitley said, "It's a historical opportunity to defeat a failed government in the state. Our alliance headed by the BJP will have a landslide victory," he said.
He said the Vision Document, which promises to reserve 35 percent seats for women in all government services, is a roadmap prepared by the party for ensuring overall development of the state.
"There is a series of dialogues organised by the party with Assam's people across the state. It has got a proper roadmap for each and every problem of the state, including transport, employment, highways, rural roads, extension of rail and air connectivity, youth, tea tribes, job creation and agricultural skill development," he said.
The BJP assured the people of enacting a law to deal with industries, businesses, small and medium enterprises or any other agencies employing infiltrators.
BJP national president Amit Shah, meanwhile, addressed two public rallies at Sivsagar district in Upper Assam and assured the people that the party would "make Assam free of illegal Bangladesh immigrants".
Blaming the Congress for the infiltration from Bangladesh, Shah said the people of Assam would have to unite and vote for the three-party alliance led by the BJP if they wished to make the state free of illegal immigrants.
