Guwahati: A day after 17 Bangladeshi nationals were detained in the state, the Assam Police said that local young men are becoming radicalised by Bangladeshi clerics.
On Sunday, they claimed that by holding religious gatherings in isolated parts of the state, priests from the neighbouring nation were breaking the rules on visas.
Many Bangladeshi clerics have been barred from the state for persistently breaking visa rules as a result of the Assam Government’s letter to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) about the incidences.
Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said, “There is a tendency, especially in Lower Assam and Barak Valley, to invite Bangladeshi clerics on tourist visas for religious preaching. These clerics are violating the rules of the tourist visas issued to them by radicalising young men of the state.”
“We have told the arrested Bangladeshis that Assam Police will be strict. The 17 who were arrested had come to Assam on tourist visas but did not visit any of the main attractions in Assam. All they did was preaching their religion. Religious preaching violated the norms of the visas issued to them,” he added.