Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday criticised Syeda Hameed, who served as a Planning Commission member during the Congress government, for advocating the settlement of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in India.
“Bangladeshis have the right to live in Bharat,” Syeda Hameed had remarked while visiting Assam, at a time when the state government was carrying out eviction drives against illegal encroachments on government land and pushing back undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.
She said, “What is wrong if they are Bangladeshis? Bangladeshis are also humans. Earth is so large, Bangladeshis can live here. Not depriving anyone’s rights.” She claimed, “to say that illegal immigrants are depriving rights of legal citizens is very very troublesome, extremely mischievous and very detrimental to humanity…….”
Rijiju, in his tweet, slammed Hameed, stating that her stance for Bangladeshi immigrants is “misleading in the name of humanity”.
Misleading in the name of humanity. It’s about our land and identity. Why the minority Buddhists, Christians, Hindus & Sikhs in Bangladesh and Pakistan are persecuted & tortured?
Sayeda Hameed may be closest to Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi but shouldn’t support illegal migrants. pic.x.com/zOs5lFwFvj
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) August 25, 2025
“It’s about our land and identity. Why the minority Buddhists, Christians, Hindus & Sikhs in Bangladesh and Pakistan are persecuted & tortured?” he added.
Taking a dig at her, Rijiju said, “Sayeda Hameed may be closest to Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi but shouldn’t support illegal migrants.”
Earlier on Saturday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he does not care about the demand of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind for his resignation following the eviction drive in various parts of the state and to book him under hate speech laws.