Congress promises to save Kamakhya & CM Himanta's residence from illegal encroachers

GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has once again been targeted by the rival Congress for his comments on a supposed population explosion in the state.

Yesterday, Sarma had that there will come a day when 'encroachers' will eventually have to squat on Kamakhya temple grounds and eventually his house as space will run out.

Congress spokesperson Bobbeeta Sharma, presuming to assume that the 'encroachers' will come from other countries after the implementation of the Citizenship Act, took a jibe at the CM for his remarks.

"If the Honourable CM is referring to the 'population explosion' that may happen in future due to immigration of people from Bangladesh and Pakistan because of implementation of CAA then perhaps CM's concern is valid. We at the Congress party take this opportunity to assure the Honourable CM that we will take definite steps and do our best to save Kamakhya and his house from such encroachment," she stated.

"If the population explosion continues, one day even the Kamakhya temple land will be encroached upon, that even my house will be encroached upon," Sarma had stated yesterday.

The Congress in its statement that this is unbecoming of the chief minister of a state who is expected to be well versed in the demographic facts of the state.

ALSO READ: Tiger spotted in Mizoram’s Dampa Tiger Reserve after 7 years

Terming the chief minister as "misinformed", the Congress pulled data in its bid to prove that the CM's statements on a population explosion are, in fact, not based on facts.

As per the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) undertaken by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and released in December 2020 the total fertility rate (TFR) across most Indian states has declined in the last five years, the Congress said.

"The total fertility rate is defined as the average number of children that would be born to a woman by the time she ends childbearing. A TFR of 2.1 is known as the replacement rate. The fertility rate of less than 2.1 implies that the total population will be less than the existing population which is also called the negative growth rate. Now as per the same survey above the fertility rate of women in Assam has declined from 2.2 in 2015-16 to 1.9 in 2020-21 and 1.9 is less than 2.1 which means the future population of Assam will only be less than the current population. Hence there is no question of an increase in population as per the Ministry's data," the Congress.