Rakibul Hussain tears into Assam CM: Alleges citizenship laws used as political weapon to distract from broken promises

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 11, 2025

Congress MP from Dhubri and former minister Rakibul Hussain launched a fierce political attack on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday, accusing him of deliberately creating confusion around citizenship laws to deflect public attention from his government’s unfulfilled promises.

Speaking at a press conference held at Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati, Hussain accused the Chief Minister of merging the Foreigners Act and the Citizenship Act in a misleading way. “This tactic is not only unconstitutional but also violates the spirit of the Assam Accord, which clearly defines March 25, 1971, as the cutoff date for detecting illegal migrants,” Hussain said.

He underlined the Congress party’s consistent stand on detecting and deporting illegal migrants based on the Assam Accord and reminded the public that the NRC process was a result of years of discussions involving the Congress government, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), and civil society stakeholders. The NRC was legally grounded in the Citizenship Act and was finalized under Supreme Court supervision, with the final list released on August 31, 2019.

“The Centre, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, clarified just days after the NRC’s publication that both included and excluded individuals would continue receiving full rights until their citizenship status was officially decided,” Hussain noted.

He sharply criticized the Chief Minister’s contradictory positions—pointing out that while Sarma had supported using the 2001 census data for delimitation, he now undermines the NRC, which was built on lawful procedures. “What exactly is the Chief Minister trying to do? He’s shifting the goalposts to serve his political agenda,” Hussain charged.

He called recent statements about implementing the 1950 Foreigners Act a smokescreen. “These are desperate attempts to muddy the waters and divert attention from this government’s failures—be it 20 lakh jobs, granting ST status to six communities, or raising tea workers’ wages. None of it has happened,” he said.

Taking his criticism further, Hussain compared Sarma’s tactics to those of former Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao, accusing the Assam CM of using state power to silence dissent and intimidate journalists and opposition leaders. “But history has shown us that such regimes can fall. Just look at Telangana—Revanth Reddy, once jailed, is now CM,” he added.

Hussain also alleged that the current administration is systematically undermining the representation of indigenous communities. “The Ahom, Moran, Matak, Chutia, and Koch-Rajbongshi people have all been sidelined. Delimitation has weakened their political voice,” he said.

He ended with a strong critique of the BJP’s treatment of Bengali Hindus. “They gave overwhelming support to the BJP, yet today not a single Bengali Hindu is a minister in the Brahmaputra Valley. Under the Congress, there were four. This government has betrayed every community it claimed to uplift,” Hussain said.

The Congress leader’s remarks reflect a sharpened opposition offensive ahead of upcoming political contests, with citizenship, representation, and governance failures at the center of the debate.