AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam on February 2 rejected assertions that a large number of Bangladeshi Muslims are residing illegally in Assam, claiming that a proper house-to-house survey would show the figure to be extremely low — possibly not more than 1,000 people.
Speaking on the issue of citizenship verification, Islam said the status of Muslim residents in Assam has already been examined multiple times through various official processes over the years.
He argued that Muslim communities in the state underwent particularly intense scrutiny during the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). According to him, their documents were checked and rechecked at several stages of the exercise.
Referring to the second draft of the NRC, Islam noted that around 19 lakh people were excluded from the list. Of these, he said nearly 12 lakh were non-Muslims, while about 6 to 7 lakh were Muslims.
He stressed that exclusion from the NRC does not automatically mean an individual is a foreigner or a Bangladeshi national. Under the law, those left out are given the opportunity to appeal before Foreigners Tribunals after receiving rejection slips.
Islam expressed confidence that a large majority of the excluded Muslim applicants would ultimately be able to prove their citizenship. “Once they go to the Foreigners Tribunals with proper documents, nearly 90 per cent of them will be declared Indian citizens,” he said.
Based on this, the AIUDF legislator maintained that the number of Bangladeshi Muslims living illegally in Assam would be very small. “Even after all scrutiny, the number may be around 1,000,” he claimed, adding that political narratives often exaggerate the scale of the issue despite repeated verification of citizenship records.
His remarks come amid continuing political debate in Assam over illegal immigration, the NRC process, and the identification of foreigners — issues that remain central to the state’s political discourse and electoral landscape.