Guwahati

All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Mazibur Rahman has alleged that the Assam government was harassing genuine Indian citizens in the name of its "pushback policy" and accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of ignoring concerns raised by the Opposition in the Assembly.

Speaking to ANI, Rahman said that the issue was raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Wazed Ali Choudhury, in the Assam Assembly, but the ruling party did not respond.

"The Leader of the Opposition, Wazed Ali Choudhury, raised this matter in the Assembly. However, the ruling party did not pay any attention. We even demonstrated in front of the Speaker, but they still did not pay any attention. They are supporting this policy," Rahman said on Tuesday.

Calling it a "vital issue," the AIUDF MLA said the Opposition had repeatedly appealed to the Speaker and Chief Minister to ensure that Indian citizens were not targeted under the policy.

"This is a vital issue, and we have repeatedly requested our Speaker and our Chief Minister not to push back or harass Indian citizens in the name of the pushback policy," he said.

Rahman clarified that his party had no objection to action against illegal immigrants, provided genuine citizens were not affected.

"If there is even a single Bangladeshi national residing illegally in Assam, the government can take them into custody and deport them to Bangladesh. We have no objection to that. But in the name of identifying Bangladeshis, genuine citizens of the state of Assam are being harassed by the state government," he alleged.

The Assam government revealed the number of illegal immigrants repatriated to Bangladesh under its "pushback" policy for the first time. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the Assam Assembly that 1,679 illegal immigrants were sent back between July 2024 and June 2026, including 193 individuals declared foreigners by Foreigners Tribunals.

The state government said the repatriation drive is being carried out under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950. The disclosure comes amid objections from Bangladesh over the pushback mechanism.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Supreme Court set aside a batch of Gauhati High Court orders that upheld declarations of some people as foreigners and remanded the cases to the concerned Foreigners Tribunals for fresh adjudication.

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A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta made it clear that it had not examined the merits of the appellants' claims to Indian citizenship. The bench also observed that the determination of citizenship and foreigner status "must be carried out through a fair, lawful and reasonable process".