Don’t need treaty with Dhaka to push back illegal immigrants: Himanta

GUWAHATI:

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday (January 1, 2026) said his government would not wait for a repatriation treaty between India and Bangladesh to intensify the pushback of “illegal immigrants” under a new policy framework. He exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would form the government for the third consecutive time in the State and continue with its agenda of development and safeguarding the interests of indigenous peoples.

Mr. Sarma said some 2,000 foreigners who stayed illegally in Assam were pushed back over the past few months. They included 18 sent across the India-Bangladesh border on Wednesday (December 31, 2025).

“If the eviction of foreigners from 1.45 lakh hectares of government land was the hallmark last year, 2026 will be marked by the number of foreigners expelled,” the Chief Minister told journalists during the customary New Year interaction. He thanked the Centre for playing an active role in the pushback.

Mr. Sarma attributed the drive to the revitalisation of the Immigrants’ (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, with a standard operating procedure for swift action, allowing the District Commissioners to issue orders for suspected foreigners to leave within 10 days and facing expulsion within 24 hours if they cannot prove citizenship.

Undocumented migrants leaving via eastern border tripled in 2025 compared to 2024, government data show

“We are not talking about a repatriation treaty (with Bangladesh), and we don’t need it. Just pushing back will be the new way to deal with foreigners,” he said, announcing the government’s resolve to intensify the identification and deportation of such people over the next five years.

The Chief Minister said he was confident that Assam would be able to evict 10,000 to 15,000 foreigners every year from 2026. He said that the Assam Accord of 1985 has no guidelines on how “illegal immigrants” are to be driven out following detection. “People declared foreigners were kept at a designated jail under detention, but they managed to walk out on bail earlier,” he said.

Signed in August 1985 between the Centre and organisations spearheading the anti-foreigners’ agitation from 1979 to 1985, the Assam Accord prescribed March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date to detect and deport “illegal immigrants”, irrespective of their faith.

“The Centre and the Assam government decided that a person would lose the right to live in India after being declared a foreigner. The Supreme Court also said the district commissioner has the authority to order the expulsion of such people,” Mr. Sarma said.

‘Developed State’

The Chief Minister said Assam has been recognised as the fastest-growing State in the country. “India’s growth rate between 2020 and 2025 was 29%. Assam’s growth rate during the same period was 45%. We are heading towards becoming a developed State,” he said, adding that the per capita income increased at a rate of 54%.

“These are not tall claims, but data provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The growth is evident from investments in major projects, such as the ₹27,000-crore Tata semiconductor plant, the ₹10,601-crore fertilizer plant in Namrup, and a ₹3,200-crore thermal plant at Chapar,” he said.

Mr. Sarma outlined a slew of infrastructure projects which include the 32 km elevated corridor near Kaziranga National Park, estimated to cost ₹6,957 crore and scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 17 or 18. The Prime Minister is also expected to lay the foundation stone of the proposed railway line and allied infrastructure from western Assam’s Kokrajhar to Bhutan’s Gelephu.

Another mega project in the pipeline is the ₹22,000-crore twin-tube tunnel under the Brahmaputra River connecting Gohpur on the northern bank to Numaligarh on the southern bank. “This was initially a road project, but the Prime Minister advised us to add railways,” the Chief Minister said.

Justice for Zubeen

Mr. Sarma said Assam, despite the growth chart, was left poorer in 2025 by the death of cultural icon Zubeen Garg.

“Our government is committed to ensuring justice for his family. We will appoint a special public prosecutor, assisted by a team of three to four criminal lawyers, on January 12. The government will also approach the Gauhati High Court to set up a special court exclusively for the case, aimed at expediting proceedings and ensuring transparency,” he said, lauding the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for filing the charge sheet without delay.

Garg died on September 19, 2025, while swimming in the sea a day before he was scheduled to perform at a cultural festival in Singapore. On January 14, a Singapore court is likely to open a coroner’s inquiry into his death.

On the recent killing of Tripura student Anjel Chakma in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, the Chief Minister said people in mainland India should be educated about the northeast to avoid such incidents in the future. The culprits should be booked and given severe punishment, he said.

Published – January 01, 2026 09:27 pm IST