GUWAHATI: PM Modi transformed his Guwahati rally on Saturday into a fierce political offensive against Congress, accusing it of “committing a sin” by preparing to join hands with the Muslim League and the British in a pre-Independence conspiracy to make Assam a part of what would later become “East Pakistan”.Modi said Congress had conspired to erase Assam’s identity and the conspiracy was not just for a few years. “The roots of this sin of Congress are connected to before Independence. At the time when the Muslim League and the British were together preparing the ground for India’s partition…”
Congress altered demography of Assam for poll gains: PM Modi
At the time when Muslim League and British rule were together preparing the ground for India’s partition, at that time a plan was made to make Assam a part of undivided Bengal or East Pakistan (sic). Congress was going to become part of the conspiracy,” PM Modi said.Modi’s remarks came a day after Bangladesh was engulfed in violent protests following the assassination of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi, triggering fears of fresh migration ahead of elections due in early 2026. Amid recent campaigns in Bangladesh by several groups seeking a “Greater Bangladesh” by including Assam and the northeast, analysts warn this unrest could spill over into India’s northeast, reviving old anxieties about infiltration and demographic change. By invoking East Pakistan and linking it to present-day turmoil across the border, Modi sharpened his message of vigilance against infiltration, political commentators said.Addressing a public rally after inaugurating India’s first nature-themed airport, named after Assam’s first post-Independence CM, Gopinath Bordoloi of Congress, Modi said, “Then Bardoloi stood up against his own party. He opposed this conspiracy to destroy Assam’s identity and saved Assam from being separated from the country.” He unveiled an imposing 80-foot statue of Bordoloi, describing him as Assam’s saviour.Modi claimed that though Bordoloi had saved Assam before Independence, Congress later resumed “anti-Assam and anti-national work”. “To increase its vote bank, Congress gave free rein to infiltrators of its vote bank in Bengal and Assam. The demography here has changed. These infiltrators have encroached upon our forests. They have encroached upon our land. The result of this is that the security and identity of entire Assam has been put at stake,” he claimed.The PM praised CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s govt for working to free Assam’s resources from illegal encroachment, while asserting that the Centre had taken strict steps to curb infiltration. “Their identification is also being done,” he said, claiming that “Congress and INDI alliance people have openly descended on an anti-national agenda.” He added that even SC had spoken about removing infiltrators, “but these people (Congress) are making statements in defence of infiltrators.”Modi said Election Commission’s SIR of electoral rolls was meant to ensure fair elections. But, he claimed, “these people (Congress) are facing problems in every corner of the country. Such people will not protect the interests of Assamese brothers and sisters. These people will allow someone else to occupy your land and forests. Their anti-national mentality can create violence of the old era.”Modi told the crowd: “We have to protect Assam, for whose integrity people like Bordoloi sacrificed everything in their lives. We have to keep defeating Congress’s conspiracies at every moment, at every step.”
