Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday flagged the needfor states bordering Bangladesh to “aggressively support” the Border Security Force (BSF) to check influx from neighbouring Bangladesh or else “things may deteriorate”.

Flagging his concern over the influx from Bangladesh, especially efforts by Rohingyas to enter various states of India, Sarma said in Guwahati that Assam and Tripura were “closely working” with the border guarding force and that Assam had in the past two months detected and pushed back 138 infiltrators trying to illegally enter from Bangladesh.

Rohingyas are Muslims, mostly from Myanmar, but had to flee the country following a massive military crackdown in 2017.

Sarma stressed on four points while dwelling on issues related to infiltration from Bangladesh.

He started by dismissing the popular perception that only Hindus would be entering India after the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 following a student-triggered mass movement.

Security and surveillance along the international border has since been intensified.

Influx from Bangladesh, which shares a 4,096.70-km border with India, is a sensitive issue in Assam. Of the total stretch, 2,216.7km falls in West Bengal, 856km in Tripura, 443km in Meghalaya, 318km in Mizoram and 263km in Assam.

Sarma said: “Contrary to the expectation that Hindus will come to India becauseof the instability in Bangladesh, we are finding only Rohingya Muslims who are coming into our country. So, I think the perception of Hindu Bengalis (from Bangladesh) is wrong. This is what the data says.”

Second, he said, “Rohingya Muslims were still trying to enter various states of our country”.

The third point he stressed on was for all the four states bordering Bangladesh “toremain vigilant and they must work very closely withthe BSF”.

“I think Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, West Bengal and Meghalaya... all the state governments must support BSF aggressively. Otherwise, things may deteriorate,” Sarma said.

Fourthly, Sarma said they have been apprehending a group of foreigners in the state for the past two months because of the porous border between India and Bangladesh. Despite the “best efforts of the BSF” some people are entering the country.