BJP government will not allow Bangladeshi infiltrators to enter Assam: Rajnath Singh

Hojai, Mar 23: Appealing not to do politics over illegal immigration, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the BJP government, if voted to power, will not allow Bangladeshi infiltrators to enter Assam at any cost.

Addressing an election rally here, he said the BJP government has started electronic surveillance across the Indo-Bangla border in Assam to stop infiltration from the neighbouring country.

"We will not allow Bangladeshi infiltrators to enter Assam at any cost... We will not allow politics to play over illegal immigration problem," Singh said. He said BJP has governments in Assam and Tripura, while it will come to power in West Bengal this time and then the infiltration problem from Bangladesh through these three states will be solved.

The BJP leader also said that misinformation is being spread by the opposition that the saffron party is attacking and destroying the civilisation, culture and identity of Assam. "BJP simply cannot think of doing so. Today I can say that we will not allow anyone to touch Assamese identity. If we had any bad intention, we would have not conferred Bharat Ratna award on Dr Bhupen Hazarika. We respect Assamese culture," he added.

The Defence Minister also said that misinformation is being spread regarding the BJP's role with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Talking about the perennial flood problem, Singh said the BJP government, once it is back to power again, will do everything possible in this regard and make Assam a "flood- free" state.

"Today we have also released our manifesto. We will give government jobs to two lakh youths, while eight lakh private jobs will also be created," he added. Stating that only BJP has worked for the development of Assam, Singh said he has a "long list" of achievements of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his government.

He further said government education till Class VIII will be completely free and land pattas will be handed over to all the landless people. "By 2022, there will be not a single person in Assam who will not have a concrete roof above his head... We will give free cycles to students," Singh said.

To eliminate the middlemen in distribution of the welfare schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened bank accounts for the poor people, the senior BJP leader asserted. "Assam has a proud sprinter Hima Das. If BJP comes to power, then the speed of development will be even faster than the running of Hima Das," he added.

Singh said Congress could have made Assam among the top states in India had the party "even partially" fulfilled its election promises. "Politics is not only to enjoy and grab power. Politics is done for the country and to make peoples' lives easy," he added.

Talking about the India-China standoff, the Defence minister said the country is proud of the courage and valour of the soldiers in protecting the borders. "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a 56-inch chest. India has now emerged as one very strong country in the world. No one can dare to look at us today," he added.