Strengthen BSF on Bangladesh border: Assam Congress to Amit Shah

The Assam unit of Congress has urged Home Minister Amit Shah to strengthen the security measures along the State’s border with Bangladesh amid increasing cases of infiltration.

Debabrata Saikia, the Leader of the Opposition in the 126-member State Assembly, expressed concern over the pushback operations by the Assam police since May.

Also read: Assam pushed back 330 ‘illegal immigrants’ into Bangladesh: Himanta Biswa Sarma

“While the State government has repeatedly acknowledged the deportation of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals, the situation raises serious questions about the effectiveness of existing border management frameworks and coordination between agencies,” he wrote in a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday (August 16, 2025).

Mr. Saikia said the Assam Government announced the new pushback strategy on May 10, reportedly sending more than 300 Bangladeshi nationals who entered the country illegally back by August 3.

“These recurring operations, despite the deployment of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the 267.5 km stretch of the Assam-Bangladesh border, suggest that infiltration continues to be a serious challenge,” he wrote.

He sought an assessment of the effectiveness of BSF deployment and resource allocation in a difficult terrain, reducing the gap in coordination between Central and State agencies as evident from the involvement of the Assam police in direct pushback, and addressing possible legal and diplomatic complications arising from State-level pushback conducted without the processes through the Foreigners Tribunals.

Mr. Saikia advised Mr. Shah to strengthen the BSF, increase coordination protocols among security agencies, utilise technology-driven border surveillance systems more effectively, and engage with Bangladesh proactively to address the root causes of infiltration.

The Congress leader submitted the letter hours after the Assam police pushed back 21 Bangladeshi nationals, including women, who entered the Sribhumi district illegally.

The political parties and NGOs also drew the attention of the Centre to the attacks by alleged Naga miscreants on three Assamese youths near the Assam-Nagaland border on August 15. The incident happened near the Merapani area of eastern Assam’s Golaghat district.

The three youths — Simsat Basumatary, Subrata Nayak, and Prakash Boro — were attacked while returning from a picnic spot across the border in Nagaland. One of the three sustained a gunshot wound.

Officials in the Golaghat district said three suspects were arrested by the Nagaland Police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel in a joint operation.