Bengali-speaking Hindus most comfortable in Assam in last 10 years: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that Bengalispeaking Hindus have been ldquomost comfortablerdquo in the state under the BJPrsquos rule over the past 10 years and said his government has been working to resolve the issues faced by the communityHe also claimed that his government has been thwarting attempts by Bangladeshis to enter the country illegallyldquoWe have been resolving all issues faced by HinduBengalis one by one We ensured that they got their Aadhaar cards back We have stopped slapping new citizenship cases against themrdquo Sarma said on the sidelines of a programmeldquoI donrsquot think any previous government has done as much as I am doing But everything has to be done through a process otherwise the court will stop itrdquo he addedThe chief minister said Bengalispeaking Hindus have been ldquomost comfortable in the state under BJP rule in the last 10 yearsrdquoAsserting that all issues between Assamese and Bengalispeaking people have now subsided he said ldquoHindus identify themselves by their religion and not by language anymorerdquoAsked about the number of illegal Bangladeshis pushed back at the international border Sarma replied ldquoIt is not proper to give figures When the time comes we will give the figuresrdquoHe added that Bangladeshis may attempt to enter through Tripura Dawki in Meghalaya Mankachar or Sribhumi in Assam but ldquoour security forces have been sending them backrdquoldquoWe are taking steps to ensure that fresh infiltration cannot take placerdquo he assertedNoting that several middlemen had been arrested Sarma said ldquoIt is unfortunate that many of them are Hindus In Tripura dalaals middlemen are all Hindus They help one person cross the border for Rs 20000rdquoAsked about TMC MP Sushmita Devrsquos allegation that Bengalispeaking Hindus face problems in Assam the CM said ldquoShe wants to break Hindu society but we are onerdquoldquoHow can someone who has left her own place challenge me No political leader leaves his or her origin But she has left Assam and comes here as a guest nowrdquo Sarma added referring to Dev a native of Silchar and former Lok Sabha MP who is now a Rajya Sabha member from West BengalSarma also maintained that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi accorded utmost importance to the Bengali languageAsked to comment on BJP leader Amit Malviyarsquos reported remarks on the Bengali language Sarma said ldquoI donrsquot know what Malviya has said It is important what Narendra Modi saysrdquoldquoBengali language cannot be called a Bangladeshi language How can the BJP speak against Bengali when it has accorded so much importance to the languagerdquo Sarma added alluding to the Centrersquos decision to grant Bengali the status of a Classical LanguageThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever