Guwahati, 30 May

Opposition leaders in Assam on Friday criticised the state government's decision to adopt a "lenient" arms licence policy, maintaining that it is a move to "polarise the public" and it will jeopardise the state's hard-won peace.

They sought the Centre's intervention to revoke the decision at the earliest.

The Assam government had on Wednesday announced giving arms licences to indigenous people living in "vulnerable and remote" areas for instilling a sense of security in them.

"Assamese people living in some areas have been feeling insecure and they have been demanding arms licences for a long time. In the backdrop of recent developments in Bangladesh and the state government's recent drive against suspected foreigners, the indigenous people in such areas feel that they might be attacked," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said while announcing the decision.

The government will be lenient in giving licences to eligible people, who have to be original inhabitants and must belong to the indigenous community living in vulnerable and remote areas, he added.

Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia of the Congress, condemned the decision, asserting that this "unconstitutional action jeopardises Assam's hard-won peace".

In letters addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Saikia sought immediate central intervention to revoke this "dangerous and divisive policy".

The Congress leader maintained that the decision is the government's apparent admission of institutional failure.

He claimed that the policy had "dangerous demographic implications", noting that selective armament could deepen existing social divides and potentially create new armed factions.

"Arming civilians along communal lines is a recipe for disaster. The Assam government's promotion of vigilante justice demonstrates an abdication of its constitutional responsibility to support law enforcement. They should remember that peace cannot be sustained at gunpoint," Saikia said.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sushmita Dev, addressing a press conference here, maintained that this decision to leniently issue arms licences is a disrespect to the police and the Border Security Force (BSF).

"It shows that the chief minister no longer trusts his police force or the Centre's BSF. This is an insult to the police and the BSF," she claimed, pointing out that Sarma is also the home minister of the state.

Dev also questioned how the chief minister could ensure that people would use the firearms only for the specific purpose of "protecting themselves".

"I want to ask the chief minister – can you control how the people will use the guns once they get it? The CM is not working for the welfare of the people but to polarise them," she claimed.

Referring to the recent pushing back of illegal Bangladeshis through the international boundary, the TMC leader alleged that it was in contradiction of laid down laws.

"Why are you pushing them back? Deport them as per law and we are with you," she added.

Dev also claimed that the BJP-led government has failed to keep its commitment on illegal immigration to the people of Assam.