Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, issued a warning on Saturday about a potential attempt to merge Assam with Bangladesh if the state's population of Bangladeshis exceeded 50%.
As we can witness with our own eyes, the number of persons of Bangladeshi descent has surpassed 40% and continues to rise.
At the BJP's state executive meeting at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, Himanta stated, "There might be an attempt to make Assam a part of Bangladesh if their population reaches 50%.
"When Dipu Das can be burned alive in Bangladesh, the Assamese people can well imagine what the situation will be after 20 years," Sarma added, drawing conclusions from the public lynching of Dipu Das in Bangladesh.
Who will these settlers back in a conflict between Bangladesh and India? What is the extent of their allegiance? Sarma enquired.
Sarma described the impending assembly elections as a "civilizational battle" to defend "Swadesh" (nation) and "Swajati" (community), as well as the identity, land, and culture of the Assamese people, claiming that decades of "appeasement politics" by Congress had fostered a "new civilization" that now numbered 1.5 crore in the state.
Nitin Nabin, the working president of the BJP, was there when Sarma stated that the party was the "last light of hope" to prevent Assam from being "pushed into an abyss of darkness by Bangladesh infiltrators."
Sarma stated that such demographic changes threatened the Assamese identity, citing incidences in Dhubri and lower Assam and highlighting examples of Hindu females becoming victims of "Love Jihad." "This is not merely political, it is civilizational," Sarma added.
According to Sarma, who cited census figures, the indigenous population had already fallen to 60% and may continue to decline. In 2011, Muslims made up 34% of the state's population, with Bangladeshi-origin Muslims accounting for 31% and indigenous Muslims for just 3%.
"This number is expected to rise to around 40% by 2027, which raises serious concerns about the changing demographic landscape of our state," the chief minister stated.
"I have witnessed the infiltrators' population increase from 21% to almost 40% during my lifetime, and my children will discover that the Assamese community's population has decreased to 30% during their lifetime," he continued.
Sarma denied that Assam was the territory of "Sankar-Azan," which refers to the Vaishnav saint Sankardeva and the Sufi saint Azan Fakir. Instead, he claimed that it was the land of "Sankar-Madhav," which is a reference to Sankardeva's famous student Madhavdeva.
The territory of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev and Mahapurush Madhabdev was, is, and will always be Assam. He declared, "We will never permit false analogies, misleading narratives, or comparisons of our Mahapurush with Ajan Fakir to undermine our cultural identity and civilizational ethos."
The chief minister invoked Ahom general Lachit Borphukan and declared, "Lachit defeated the Mughals, even when sick." The forces endangering our culture, identity, and land will be defeated by us as well.
"We are accompanied by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi. We'll fight tenaciously to defend our "jati, mati, and bheti" (identity, territory, and homeland), and we'll prevail," Sarma continued.
