Centre's order to extend cut-off date will turn Assam into grazing ground for foreigners: Congress

Guwahati, Sep 4 (PTI) Assam Congress leaders Debabrata Saikia and Ripun Bora on Thursday alleged that the BJP 's decision to extend the cut-off date for migrants — excluding Muslims— from neighbouring countries from December 31, 2014, to December 31, 2024 would turn the state into a grazing ground for foreigners.

"The new Immigration and Foreigners' (Exemption) Order, 2025, issued on September 1, is BJP's deep-rooted conspiracy to destroy the very existence of the Assamese people by nullifying the Assam Accord in order to legalise foreigners and turning the state into a grazing ground for outsiders, Saikia and Bora said at a joint press conference here.

The order of the Ministry of Home Affairs allows minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians, who entered India up to December 31, 2024, to remain in the country if they fled religious persecution.

Saikia, the leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly, and former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora, also criticised the BJP government in the state led by Himanta Biswa Sarma and its ally AGP, branding them "anti-national" for their politics of appeasement and vote bank.

Saikia described the order as a "second version of CAA'' and accused the BJP of launching a dangerous conspiracy to wipe out the identity of the Assamese people in the name of "one nation, one policy, and vote bank politics." He pointed out that while the rest of India uses 1951 as the citizenship cut-off year, Assam has 1971 under the Accord but ''today, that very Accord signed by Rajiv Gandhi is being demolished, insulting the Assamese people''.

Saikia accused the BJP of using Hindu Bangladeshis as pawns for electoral politics.

He cited contradictory stands taken by the party on withdrawal of cases against them and revealed shocking instances where even genuine Indian citizens from Assam had been sent to detention camps.

"This shows how BJP is harassing Indian citizens in Assam under the guise of protecting identity," Saikia said.

He recalled that on May 6, 2018, Congress had already appealed to the prime minister to exclude Assam from the scope of CAA.

"Nehru in 1958 had settled refugees outside Assam, in places like Delhi. Why can’t today’s refugees be settled likewise, instead of burdening Assam alone?” Saikia asked.

He accused the BJP government of directing Foreigners’ Tribunals to dismiss non-Muslim cases and encourage them to take Indian citizenship.

“The BJP has no intention of stopping illegal infiltration. By extending the cut-off date the government is providing yet another safe passage to foreigners and this proves that infiltration into Assam continues even today'', Bora said.

"Modi had promised in 2014 that all illegal migrants in Assam would be forced to leave the state but instead of fulfilling that promise, the BJP has kept the issue alive only for 'political gains, sacrificing Assamese language, culture, and identity in the process," Bora alleged.

The Congress leader demanded that the state government should oppose implementation of this ordinance in the state and press the Centre to exclude Assam from its purview.

"If the government could suddenly extend the cut-off period for CAA by 10 years, what guarantee is there that it won’t be extended further in future?”, he asked.

The Congress leaders said the party has already challenged CAA in the Supreme Court, where the case is sub judice, and questioned how the government could issue such a notification when the matter is pending in court. PTI DG DG MNB