GUWAHATI, Dec 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday urged the people of Assam to grant the BJP another five-year mandate, asserting that the party would intensify its drive to evict illegal infiltrators from the state and reclaim land allegedly encroached upon by them.
Shah was speaking after inaugurating the ₹227-crore redevelopment project of Batadrava Than in Nagaon district, the birthplace of 15th-century Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva, which has been developed into a major spiritual and cultural centre. He arrived at Borduwa by helicopter from Guwahati and was accorded a traditional welcome with Assamese cultural performances, including Gayan-Bayan and Diha Naam.
Addressing the gathering, the Union Home Minister claimed that Sankardeva’s birthplace had earlier been under encroachment. “Was it justified that the birthplace of such a great saint was encroached upon by illegal infiltrators? Today, that land has been freed and developed into a project that will be world famous,” he said, adding that more than one lakh bighas of land across Assam had been cleared of encroachment.
Targeting the Congress, Shah alleged that previous governments allowed illegal settlers to remain for electoral gains, referring to the now-scrapped IMDT Act. “Those who see infiltrators as a vote bank can never take strong action,” he said. “Give the BJP another five years in Assam, and we will not only remove illegal infiltrators from this state but from the entire country. Every piece of land encroached by them will be freed.”
Highlighting development under BJP rule, Shah said Assam had witnessed unprecedented progress over the past decade. “Earlier, Assam was known for bomb blasts; today it resonates with devotion and development. Assam has become the growth engine of the entire Northeast,” he said, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and the present government led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He also recalled the contribution of Gopinath Bordoloi, saying that without his efforts the Northeast might not have remained part of India.
Earlier, Chief Minister Sarma said the inauguration of the Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva Abirbhav Kshetra marked the culmination of a four-year effort to restore Batadrava as a vibrant spiritual and cultural hub. “The collective will of the people of Assam has scripted history today,” he said.
Shah’s visit comes amid heightened political focus on migration, land rights and cultural identity in Assam ahead of upcoming electoral contests. During his visit to Guwahati, the Union Home Minister is scheduled to pay homage to the martyrs of the Assam movement against illegal infiltration at the newly constructed Swahid Smarak Kshetra.
He will also inaugurate a ₹111-crore new building of the Guwahati Police Commissionerate, the ₹189-crore Integrated Command and Control System (ICCS) to strengthen city security by monitoring over 2,000 CCTV cameras, and the ₹291-crore Jyoti Bishnu Cultural Complex, a 5,000-seat auditorium in the city.
