"Assam facing a demographic invasion" : Advani

New Delhi, Oct 3 (UNI) Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani today said that Assam faced an imminent 'demographic invasion' from across the border and unless it was tackled at the higest level, the day, when the original inhabitants of Assam would be reduced to a minority, was not far off.

Addressing a BJP Yuva Morcha sit in demonstration at Jantar Mantar, he said the Supreme Court had held the Illegal Migration Detection Tribunal (IMDT) Act ultra vires, but the government, instead of tackling the problem and protecting the Assamese from the ill-effects of infiltration, was encouraging the infiltrators for the sake of ''vote bank''. The result of this is that the Assamese have been reduced to a minority, he added.

The BJP would raise the issues in and outside Parliament.

Earlier addressing 'kisan' activists from Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Advani promised to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to consider the problems of sugar cane farmers, many of who were commiting suicide because of indebtedness. There should be generous rehabilitation measures for families of 'kisans' and timebound completion of all irrigation schemes in Telangana to lessen the burden on farmers.

The government should ensure access to timely credit through banks and widen the banking network in rural areas. There should be modification of guidelines of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to see that agricultural operations of small and margin 'kisans' did not suffer during critical farming operations.

UNI