Bangladeshi issue needs bilateral solution, not ‘pushback drama’ says Akhil Gogoi
Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi has criticized the state government's 'pushback' policy for illegal immigrants, arguing that the issue requires a bilateral solution with Bangladesh rather than political optics. This comes as the Supreme Court remanded cases of individuals declared as foreigners back to tribunals for fresh adjudication.
Why it matters
The debate over illegal immigration in Assam remains a highly sensitive political issue with significant legal and diplomatic implications.
A day after the Supreme Court set aside a batch of Gauhati High Court’s judgments on people declared as foreigners, Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi said the Bangladeshi issue needs a bilateral solution, not any “pushback drama”.
Mr. Gogoi, who heads the Raijor Dal party and represents the Sibsagar constituency, slammed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for using the pushback of alleged illegal Bangladeshi nationals to keep the “illegal immigration” issue alive without establishing any legal mechanism to deport them.
“Himanta Biswa Sarma turns a non-issue into an issue. The issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants can only be resolved through talks with Bangladesh. The Assam government has neither held any bilateral talks with Bangladesh nor created any legal mechanism to push undocumented Bangladeshi nationals back into the neighbouring country,” he told journalists on Tuesday (July 14, 2026).
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