Bangladeshis get Indian passports: BJP leader

New Delhi, March 8 : Former Assam MLA and BJP leader Shiladitya Dev has alerted the Centre over the alleged issue of Indian passports to Bangladeshi nationals in the state on the strength of Aadhaar and PAN cards they manage to get in their name, calling it a serious breach of national security. In two separate memorandum submitted to the Secretaries of the External Affairs and Home Ministries, copies of which were accessed by , Dev claimed that an Abubakar Siddik who holds a Bangladeshi national identity card had obtained an Aadhaar card as well as an Indian passport in Assam. Dev, a former MLA from Hojai, is also the chairperson of the Assam Linguistic Minority Development Board. He said that police in Hojai on February 28 busted a passport racket and caught some people along with 25 Indian passports. He raised the fear that “these passports can be used to import insurgents/jehadis from neighbouring countries and for giving safe passage to these elements for creating unwanted disturbances in the state”. “I feel … many people are still infiltrating from neighbouring countries by crossing the borders of Karimganj (Assam), Dauki (Meghalaya) and Dhramanagar (Tripura). Anti-national agents are deliberately giving safe shelters to these unwanted infiltrators by arranging birth certificates or other requisite certificates from the village heads to obtain Aadhaar/PAN card and subsequently apply for a passport,” he wrote. He added: “Bangladeshi infiltration is a never ending process in Assam. Everyone is aware of the issue, unfortunately no one is raising their voice. The need of the hour is to set the right example to discourage the wrong attitudes of any person/official/agent and brokers and take necessary steps. “If we look at the statistics of passports issued in Assam in the last five years, in every 100, I believe 85 people have dubious backgrounds,” the Former MLA told . Dev said he had also written to the Assam Chief Secretary. DS MR