Checking Bangladesh Infiltration Holds Challenges For Assam Government

Dhubri: Hours before Sarbabanda Sonowal took oath as the Chief Minister of Assam, he said the priority for his government is to permanently seal the Indo-Bangladesh border. How realistic is the BJP's ambitious plan? NDTV did a reality check by visiting a section of the 134-km border between Agomoni and Mancachar.

The first stop was Golakganj on the Dhubri sector of the Assam-Bangladesh border, where Satish Chandra Barman -- a 77-year-old retired post master living at the border village of Bishkhowa -- said the BJP must deliver on its promise.

"They must increase force and mobile boats," said Mr Barman. "If they don't deliver, we will change them as well."

Demographic fault lines in border areas have yielded good results for the BJP. For example, the Golakganj seat, which had elected a Congress lawmaker for the last 10 years, has elected a BJP leader this time.
 
With the voters saying they wanted poribortan (change), the party used a subtle campaign around the religious census to argue its case on illegal immigration.

Census data show the Muslim population rose by nearly 6 per cent between 2001 and 2011 in Dhubri. From 6 districts in 2001, the number of Muslim-majority districts in Assam went up to 9. The BJP argues it is because of illegal infiltration and plugging the gaps in border fencing is the only solution.

But on the ground, it looks like a difficult proposition.

At the Binachar border outpost, a four-and-a-half km stretch of fence has been washed away by the Brahmaputra. Post floods, the river changes course every year, making it near impossible to erect a permanent boundary.

The talk of sealing the border has also left many confused. The border fence is 100 meters inside the actual boundary or zero point and many people have farmland across the fence.

One of them, Nizamuddin Bepari said, "People who have lands across the fence will face hardship if the border is permanently sealed".