Guwahati, March 31 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that once the BJP returns to power, it will implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state within three months.
He said that this will be done without disturbing the rights of the tribal and other ethnic communities in the state. He made this statement while releasing the BJP's manifesto for the Assam assembly elections on April 9.
"We are also bringing tough legislation against 'love and land jihad', and empowering the District Commissioners of the state to enforce the Illegal Immigrants Expulsion Act of 1950. This gives them the authority to expel foreigners within 24 hours," he said.
Sarma asserted that the BJP will "completely launch a legal battle against illegal encroachers in our forests and other land. We will evict them and ensure that the last inch of land is free from the clutches of Bangladeshi infiltrators."
When asked how long it would take to remove the infiltrators from the state, Sarma said, "As long as Bangladesh exists, infiltrators will continue to come, and we will have to fight them. Sending back infiltrators is not like building a building, for which we can set a completion deadline."
"As long as India and Bangladesh exist as neighbours, this will be an ongoing battle, and we will have to keep fighting against this menace," he said.
"In the past five years, we have broken the arms and legs of the Bangladeshi Miyas, and now they are nowhere near Dispur (the state secretariat), which is considered the seat of power," he said.
"It is our promise that this time we will politically break the backbone of the Bangladeshi Miyas," he said.
The chief minister also highlighted the various development and welfare initiatives that the party will undertake when it returns to power.
He pointed out that some of the party's promises include spending Rs 5 lakh crore on infrastructure, launching a Rs 1,800 crore mission to make the state flood-free, creating two lakh government jobs for youth, implementing schemes to create 10 lakh entrepreneurs, and providing free education from kindergarten to postgraduate level, which the party will take up seriously from the start.
The BJP will also create health infrastructure with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore, increase the monthly amount given to women beneficiaries under the 'Orunodoi' scheme to Rs 3,000 per month from the present Rs 1,250 in a phased manner, increase the daily wages of tea garden workers to Rs 500 in a phased manner, provide an annual support of Rs 11,000 to small farmers, among others, Sarma said.
"We are aiming to make Assam a $150 billion economy and reach a position where it can be a contributory state in India's growth trajectory, rather than remaining a dependent state," he asserted.