Gogoi criticises HC judgment

Guwahati, Aug 13 (UNI) Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today criticised a recent judgment by the Gauhati High Court regarding the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state, which sparked the infiltration issue once again.

Addressing a press conference here, the Chief Minister categorically stated that some portions of the judgment were ''too sweeping and should be substantiated by the judge.'' ''This infiltration issue returns to haunt before every election but this time the High Court judgment was provocative and sparked the fire,'' he said.

The eye-opener judgment, delivered by Justice B K Sharma of the Gauhati High Court, categorically stated that Bangladeshi infiltrators had become kingmakers in Assam.

The order came following a joint petition filed by the Bangladeshi infiltrators.

''The judge should substantiate his statements because they are most interesting,'' he said, mincing no words against the judgment.

However, the High Court order was lapped up by the All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BJP.

''Harassment of Indian citizens is going on in the name of detection,'' Mr Gogoi said.

He claimed that over the years the Congress had done more than all the parties put together to identify the Bangladeshis.

The Gauhati High Court had ordered deportation of about 50 illegal Bangladeshi settlers, who had easily managed to get their names entered in the voters' list, passports and even exercised their ''voting right'' in elections.

The Chief Minister admitted that laxity in the laws of detection and deportation had proved problematic.

Blaming both the AGP and BJP of ''indulging in emotional politics'', Mr Gogoi alleged, ''Both the parties have been exploiting the emotions of the Assamese people and their near-paranoid fear of Assam getting overwhelmed by the Bangladeshis.'' He appealed to the student and youth organisations not to take the law into their own hands in detecting the Bangladeshis. He also appealed to all the political parties to engage themselves in the police station committees to detect the Bangladeshis in the state.

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