Illegal Hindu, Muslim Bangladeshi should be deported: North East Students' Union

Shillong: The powerful North East Students' Union (NESO) on Tuesday demanded that Hindu and Muslim Bangladeshis who have illegally entered into Assam and other northeastern states must be deported.

The demand of the apex students' body came after a group of people under the banner of Nikhil Bharat Bengali Udbastu Samanvay Samiti (NBBUSS) demanded citizenship for Hindu Bangladeshis and vandalised an All Assam Students Union (AASU) office at Silapathar in Dhemaji district of Assam.

"The NESO reiterates its firm stand on the issue of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and would like to convey the organisation's long-standing demand that all the Hindu, Muslim Bangladeshis illegally entered into Assam and other northeaster states must be deported," NESO Chairman Samuel Jyrwa said.

"Assam Accord must be implemented in true spirit, and NESO believes that the proper implementation of Assam Accord is the solution of the illegal migrants issue," he added.

Jyrwa said that there is no question of northeast taking the burden of "post 1971 Bangladesh war immigrants".

The apex students body also appealed for a united movement by all the indigenous people of the region "for effective solutions of the burning problems of the entire northeast region lest we will be a minority in our own land".

Condemning the act of violence and vandalism in the AASU office by a group of people belonging to the NBBUSS, Jyrwa said, "The culprits must be nabbed immediately, and the guilty must be punished without any compromise."

"The people of the northeast and the NESO is always with the indigenous people of Assam, and with the AASU," he said.

The NBBUSS is spearheading a movement for granting citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis by amending the Citizenship Act.