‘Massive increase’ in migrant influx due to ‘collapse’ of Bangladesh textile sector: Himanta Sarma
The Assam chief minister alleged that factory owners in India were incentivising the undocumented immigration for cheap labour.
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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday claimed there has been a “massive increase” in attempts at undocumented immigration into the state following the political crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh, The Indian Express reported.
At a press briefing about Assam’s performance in 2024, Sarma linked the increase in attempts at undocumented immigration to the troubles faced by Bangladesh’s textile industry.
Bangladesh descended into a political crisis after Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister at the time, was ousted from power and forced to flee to India in August amid widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government.
Subsequently, Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of the country’s interim government.
On Wednesday, the chief minister claimed that while “infiltrators” were being intercepted and pushed back at the border in Assam, the persons were Muslims and not from Bangladesh’s minority Hindu community.
“Every day, Assam Police are detecting 20 to 30 infiltrators and equal numbers are also being witnessed in Tripura,” he said. “So when we tried to research why this is happening, [we found that] after the unrest in Bangladesh, the textile industry has virtually collapsed.”
Sarma claimed that the workers employed in Bangladesh’s textile industry are trying to cross the border and that several factory owners in India “are incentivising this, giving a good amount...
