Modi again asks Bangali Muslims to ‘pack bags’

KOLKATA May 5 (agencies):  Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial front-runner in India's mammoth general election, reiterated his strong stance against illegal immigrants, just days after a wave of sectarian killings in the north-eastern state of Assam.

India deployed troops in Assam on Saturday after more than 30 Muslims were gunned down in three days of what police said were attacks by Bodo tribal militants, who resent the presence of settlers they claim are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

 Modi has repeatedly called for tighter border controls and last week said illegal immigrants from Bangladesh living in the state of West Bengal should have their "bags packed" in case he came to power.

 At a rally Sunday he accused the West Bengal state government of being soft on illegal immigrants because it was looking to secure votes from ethnic and religious minorities.

 Police on Sunday said the death toll from the Assam attacks now stood at 34 after they found the bodies of two 30-year-old women floating in the Beki river near Narayanguri village, where the worst of the attacks took place.

 A man's body was found elsewhere in the same district. All of the victims were Muslims.

 Fifteen people have been arrested in connection with the attacks, including 10 forest guards employed by the state government and five former militants, police said.

 Bodo tribesmen have long argued many of the Muslims in their part of Assam state are illegal immigrants encroaching on ancestral lands.

 In 2012, clashes erupted in which dozens of people were killed and 400,000 fled their homes. Assam also has a history of armed groups fighting for greater autonomy or secession from India.

 On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the ruling Congress party condemned the latest attacks in Assam. Law Minister Kapil Sibal accused Modi of making divisive comments.

 Assam state police said the latest outbreak of violence seems to have been sparked by the longstanding local rivalries, with Bodo tribesmen attacking Muslim settlers as punishment for not supporting their parliamentary candidate in the election.

 Residents of Narayanguri village, where the worst of the attacks took place, said eighteen bodies were wrapped in black plastic sheeting and buried on Sunday.

 Soldiers and paramilitary police continued to guard the village in the wake of the attack.