Truck drivers have to pay 'Abhishek Tax' in Siliguri: Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that every Indian has a stake in the ongoing West Bengal assembly elections as Bangladeshi infiltrators were not only causing demographic change in the state but also spilling over to adjoining states."It would not be surprising if the BJP won over 200 seats in West Bengal. The around 93 per cent voter turnout in phase 1 showed that there is no atmosphere of fear which had earlier prevented people from openly backing the BJP," he said, while addressing a press conference in Kolkata.He claimed the Muslim population in Assam had already touched approximately 40 per cent. He warned both states would lose their Hindu majority status within the next two decades if infiltration went unchecked. If the Bangladeshi Muslim population exceeds 50%, they won't take long to implement Sharia law. At that point, the condition of Hindus will become like that of Hindus living in Bangladesh. We will have to remain vigilant, he waened. Sarma said, when truck drivers from Bengal cross over to Assam they complain that they have to pay some “Abhishek Tax” near Siliguri.

When truck drivers from Bengal cross over to Assam they complain that they have to pay some “Abhishek Tax” near Siliguri. #BengalElections2026 pic.twitter.com/WNTerzAMqo

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 25, 2026

Sarma said if BJP comes to power in West Bengal, he would request Union Home Minister Amit Shah to form a task force comprising chief ministers of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram to jointly tackle infiltration. He called for extending the Legal Immigrant Expulsion Act of 1948, which allows a district collector to expel an infiltrator within 48 hours, to all five border states, noting the Supreme Court had already upheld the law for Assam. Sarma claimed there are no Bengali Hindus in detention camps in Assam."West Bengal has become a safe passage for infiltrators. TMC has political and economic interests in not allowing fencing," he alleged. Sarma alleged that the TMC's failure to cooperate was driven by vote bank interests as well as economic stakes through syndicates involved in cow smuggling and drug trafficking.