SC-ordered inquiry shows border was kept intentionally porous, floodlights were duds, villagers allowed to cross over freely, no steps taken by previous Congress regimes
The previous Congress regime in Assam has allowed unchecked illegal immigration from Bangladesh for years by looking away from the miserably porous border and not fixing the issues, shows a scathing 2015 Supreme Court-ordered commission of inquiry.
The report, available with MyNation, underlines and puts in context Congress’ current hostility against creation of a National Registry of Citizens (NRC) currently underway in Assam. A Wikileaks cable only strengthens MyNation’s findings that the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress was allegedly compromising on the country’s security, demography and resources only to get Muslim votes, many of which could have been cast by illegal immigrants with fake papers.
On account of the commission’s recommendations pertaining to inquiry into how the illegals were entrenching themselves in the state, the Congress government gave no answer.
“Interestingly, on one of the fundamental issues regarding Issue No. (ix) for setting up of an independent inquiry / investigation into the manner in which illegal migrants entrench themselves in the State, including unearthing of nexuses in this connection the response is a simple “No comment”. Considering that factual data in terms of overall demographic change furnished in the representation enclosed with the earlier report shows proliferation of a large number of “non- Indians” to borrow a description from the respondents own official communications regarding encroachers, this response is surprising,” the report noted.
Also read: Indira Gandhi proposed what NRC seeks to do: Deport Bangladeshi infiltrators
MyNation reveals exclusive details of how illegal migrants have hitherto been making their way freely into India, through porous Assam-Bangladesh international border (IB), with the active connivance of Congress regimes at the Centre as well as the state.
Meanwhile, a Wikileaks cable alleged that in 2006 US consulate in Kolkata found that Congress had supported the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act which made deporting illegals impossible to pander to the Muslim votebank. The SC had, however, ruled it unconstitutional.
The problem, as it remained a public secret, was taken up seriously by the Supreme Court in 2015 when it appointed a one-member commission to study the problem on IB. the commission was headed by senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika.
The report submitted to the SC also had a supplementary video report, which MyNation has accessed.
In a glaring oversight by the Congress governments of the state and those at the Centre, the then DIG of Border Security Force (Assam) Ajai Singh had told Hazarika on camera how lack of proper fencing and presence of villages extremely close to the IB created national security problems and how they hampered efforts to control infiltration.
The report revealed that in the years immediately before 2015, cattle smuggling and entrance of illegals had peaked.
In his supplementary report, Hazarika observed that infiltrators were easily getting valid identification papers made in India. “It is obvious and apparent…that there is a large scale racket in procurement of fake certificates and which is carried out with the aid and connivance of government personnel.”
He also noted: “This fake certification with the active connivance of Government personnel has significant implications while carrying out verification of Applicants while updating the National Register of Citizens and this aspect therefore, has to be accounted for while evolving verification procedures.”
The report also mentioned that in the Boko Legislative Assembly constituency (80 kilometres West of Guwahati having a riverine border with the Brahmaputra) “analysis of 14 polling stations and increase in electors between the period 1971 to 1997 shows that 22 percentage of voters has increased from 80% to 2135% and in most cases the number of electors having more than doubled.”
In yet another instance cited by the report, at a polling station “abutting Kaziranga, Najan Polling Station, Village Kuthori between 1979 to 2015 the number of Hindu voters showed an increase of 132.407% and Muslim voters increase by 409.76%.”
The report also noted: “As far as provision of regular electricity connection is concerned timelines have been provided… But nothing has been said about uninterrupted power supply, infrequent power supply in these areas is the norm, rather than the exception and for border floodlights, uninterrupted power supply is a necessity.”
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