India, Jan. 30 -- Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday said that only the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can keep Assam safe from illegal infiltrators and urged people to bring the party back to power in the next assembly elections, expected to be held in March-April.

"The Congress encouraged infiltration from Bangladesh and used those people as a vote bank for the sake of power. But the BJP government in Assam has freed over 1.26 lakh bighas (around 41,500 acres) of land from encroachment by these Bangladeshi infiltrators," Shah said while addressing a public meeting in Dibrugarh.

The BJP has been in power in Assam since 2016, first under Sarbananda Sonowal and then Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Shah said that if the BJP returns to pow...