Thursday, May 26 2005 17:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Within weeks of informing the Supreme Court that "large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh" was a problem, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi changed his position and said he did not consider the influx "threatening".

Claiming that infiltration was on the decline over the last three years, Gogoi also said in a television interview that Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh should provide facts to substantiate his report that 6,000 immigrants enter the State everyday.

"Infiltration has been going on for years, I am not denying it (but) I don't consider it threatening," he said in an interview to BBC's 'Hardtalk Asia' programme.

Asked by interviewer Karan Thapar about the affidavit filed by the Assam Government in the Supreme Court on April 13 that "large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh" was a problem, Gogoi said, "I have changed my position."

To a query whether this change of stand had anything to do with frequent allegations that Congress used Muslims as a vote bank, he said, "Muslims voted us out of power in 1986 and 1996 and even in 2000, when I came to power, 50 per cent voted for us and 50 per cent for them (BJP-AGP combine)."

On talks with militant group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Gogoi said he had asked the Centre that the same principle that was used in dialogue with National Socialist Council of Nagalim - Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) should apply to them too.

When asked if sovereignty issue could be part of the agenda for talks with ULFA, if this was the case "directly or indirectly" with NSCN-IM, he said, "Yes, if it is."

Disputing the figures on immigrants reportedly given by the Governor in a report to the Centre, Gogoi said, "On what basis he could say 6,000 (people enter the country every day)? He should substantiate it. If he furnishes the facts, I can reply also."

When reminded that Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal had said in Parliament that there were five million illegal immigrants in Assam, the Chief Minister said, "His statement was not based on facts."

Gogoi said Jaiswal had subsequently revised his figures after he took up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Asked whether he would take up the Governor's report with the Centre, he said, "I will write to the Prime Minister and complain about it."

However, he stopped short of saying whether he would demand the Governor's recall.

Gogoi said there was a lot of "propaganda" on illegal immigrants as those who had come to Assam before 1971 were bonafide Indian citizens.

He said the list of doubtful voters included more Hindus than Muslims.