Bangla influx a poll issue: Gogoi

This was in contrast to what he said three days back. He had said infiltration from Bangladesh had gone down significantly in the past four years. He also denied any knowledge of Union Minister of State for Home S Reghupathy telling Lok Sabha in December that over 38,000 Bangladeshi infiltrators had been deported from Assam in 2004.

That could be why the party8217;s statement today is being seen as an attempt to woo voters who have been traditionally with the opposition Asom Gana Parishad AGP.

The turnaround had come yesterday, with Digvijay Singh, the AICC observer for Assam, stating that influx from Bangladesh was a major problem for the state. Singh8217;s statement also came in the wake of the arrest of nine Bangladeshi infiltrators in the heart of the Assam capital last week. These people, said to be part of a 52-member gang, had entered India through Tripura and reached Guwahati last month with the help of an agent.

The manifesto also promises measures like effective border fencing, reduction of distance between BSF posts, raising strength of the river police and provision of floodlights along the Indo-Bangla border to check infiltration.

Steps would be taken to erect a fence along the Indo-Bangla border on the lines of that on the Punjab-Pak border, while the National Register of Citizens NRC would be updated in Assam in two years to detect foreigners and protect Indians, the manifesto said.

The party, however, preferred to remain silent on the EC marking over 1.5 lakh names in the state as 8216;8216;doubtful8217;8217; after it was not satisfied with claims that they were Indian citizens. On the ULFA front, the party has promised to try and bring about a permanent solution to the issue by thrashing out a political solution.