Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Saturday released the election manifesto of the party in which it committed refugee status to all those non-Muslims who fled erstwhile East Pakistan fearing prosecution.
In a carefully drafted remark Mr Gogoi maintained a safe distance from using “Hindu Bengali” word and told reporters, “We have taken up this issue for the first time. We intend to grant refugee status to all those persons who were Indian citizen at the time of partition and compelled to leave their country due to persecution and atrocities.”
He said, “Though majority of them were Hindu but some Christians also came so we want to grant refugee status to all non-Muslims.”