Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said the growth of Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in Assam is faster than Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the country.
General Rawat was speaking at a seminar on ‘North East Region of India – Bridging Gaps and Securing Borders’, organized by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies and Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff of the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi on Wednesday.
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“The AIUDF has grown faster than the BJP over the years. Look at Jan Sangh with two members in the Parliament and where they have reached. AIUDF is moving at a faster pace in the state of Assam,” he said.
“We need to understand that the problems of the North-east…. Is it an identity problem or the problem of development or security or demography?” the Army chief questioned.
“We need to take a holistic look at all these aspects. When we talk about Act East Policy, we need to address all these issues. Some students came to meet me from Manipur today. They told me they visited places and were mistaken as foreigners. We have to amalgamate them,” he further said.
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General Rawat also said that illegal immigration from Bangladesh happens due to two reasons.
“Bangladeshis are running short of space, large parts of their areas get flooded, so people migrate. The other issue is a planned immigration, which is the proxy dimension of the issue,” he said adding, it is played by our ‘western neighbour’ supported by our ‘northern neighbour’ referring to Pakistan waging a proxy war with assistance from China.
Stressing on development as the key for the region, the Army chief asserted that the Central Government is looking at the North-east in the right perspective.
The solution to the problems of the north-eastern region is to amalgamate the people along with development, General Rawat further said.