Deccan Herald » National » Detailed Story
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Anti-migrant campaign sparks Muslim exodus
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DH News Service
Guwahati:
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A youth organisation’s campaign against illegal migrants from Bangladesh triggered an exodus of Bengali-speaking Muslims from Dibrugarh and the adjoining areas in upper Assam.
Hundreds of rickshaw-pullers, vegetable-vendors and brick-kiln workers have left Dibrugarh in the last few days, after the Chiring Chapori Yuva Mancha (CCYM), a hitherto little-known organisation, launched a campaign against illegal migrants through pamphlets and SMS.
Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh H N Bora said the district administration was monitoring the situation and would take “necessary actions” if the CCYM’s campaign resulted in a law and order problem.
The CCYM has distributed leaflets in Dibrugarh and nearby areas urging people not to give food, job or shelter to the “Bangladeshis”. The organisation has also called upon people not to rent out their rooms to any illegal migrant. It has also launched an SMS campaign.
“The youths have launched an awareness campaign against illegal migration from across the border. As long as they do it in a non-violent way, without taking the law in their own hand, we have no reason to act against them,” said a senior police officer in Dibrugarh.
Official sources in Dibrugarh said a large number of menial workers fled the city by trucks, buses and trains.
Illegal migration from neighbouring Bangladesh has been a serious issue in the state, ever since the highly-influential All Assam Students’ Union launched its historic anti-foreigner agitation in late 1970s.