GUWAHATI: Activist and former Planning Commission member Syeda Saiyidain Hameed has stirred a hornet’s nest by suggesting that Bangladeshis can live in Assam. Speaking to the media in Guwahati on Sunday on the sidelines of an event, she said, “What’s wrong if they are Bangladeshis? Bangladeshis are also humans. The world is so large. Bangladeshis can also be here. Not depriving anyone’s rights.””To say that (they are) depriving the rights of others is troublesome, extremely mischievous and detrimental to humanity. God has created this earth for humans,” she further said. The remarks, made amid eviction drives by the Assam government, triggered outrage.”People like Syeda Hameed, a close confidant of the Gandhi family, legitimise illegal infiltrators, as they seek of to realise Jinnah’s dream of making Assam a part of Pakistan. Today, Assamese identity is on the brink of extinction because of the tacit support of people like her,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X.”But we are the sons and daughters of Lachit Barphukan, WE WILL FIGHT till the last drop of our blood to save our State and our identity. Let me make it very clear, Bangladeshis are not welcome in Assam, it is not their land. Anyone sympathising with them may accommodate them in their own backyards. Assam is not up for grabs by illegal infiltrators, NOT NOW, NOT EVER,” he further wrote.
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