Prabajan Virodhi Mancha slams CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's 'population explosion' remark

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Prabajan Virodhi Mancha (PVM) has stated that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's 'population explosion' remark is factually erroneous.

Taking potshots at the CM, PVM convener Upamanyu Hazarika said, "CM Sarma's view expressed that the primary reason for the population explosion in Assam is uncontrolled birth by the migrant Muslim community and the absence of family planning. He further said that the eviction operation of encroachers belonging to this community would not resolve the issue, the primary requirement being birth control. The Chief Minister's view suggests that migration and illegal infiltration from Bangladesh is not the primary cause for demographic changes, rather it is the lack of birth control measures. This statement coming at this point is very strange and contrary to facts. If birth control were the sole means to restrict population growth, there was no need for the 6 years long Assam movement, NRC etc."

The PVM underlined that over the last 30 years, Congress and BJP governments have given details from the floor of the legislature of the number of illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh into Assam.

"If Late Hiteshwar Saikia, the then Chief Minister of Assam in 1992 gave a figure of 32 lakhs, Prakash Jaiswal, Union Minister in the UPA government gave a figure of 50 lakhs, Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home in the first NDA government gave a figure of 80 lakhs infiltrators from Bangladesh in Assam in November 2016. This number has been consistently 25 per cent of Assam's population. The Supreme Court in its judgement in December 2014 in the case of Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, reiterated the figure of 50 lakhs given by the UPA government. Coincidently, Himanta Biswa Sarma has been a member of all the ruling party is not of all these governments at the relevant time when these figures were given. Why did he not then question these figures at that time?" Hazarika questioned.

He added, "It has been found in a study by Professor Nandita Saikia of Jawaharlal Nehru University that even a higher fertility rate could not be the basis for an increase in the population of migrant Muslims from Bangladesh, most of it due to infiltration. The stand taken by the Chief Minister is also the stand taken by representatives of migrant Muslim from Bangladesh who seeks to attribute their population explosion to a higher fertility rate and not due to migration. A national daily from Delhi today has published a news item rebutting the CM's claim based on Union Health Ministry figures that the net fertility rate amongst migrant Muslim women in Assam has declined from 3.6 to 2.4."

Also Read: Crux of Land Encroachment is as Result of Population Boom: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma