Assam’s political landscape briefly intersected with Bollywood flair on Saturday when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma invoked a line associated with Shah Rukh Khan on the actor’s 60th birthday, though the remark had little to do with cinema and everything to do with the state’s enforcement drive along the international border.
The Chief Minister, writing on social media, said “Miyabhai ki daring won’t work in Assam”, a phrase widely recognised from Khan’s 2017 film Raees. But Sarma’s intent was pointed elsewhere: he was referring to a recent security operation in which sixteen Bangladeshi nationals were detained for allegedly crossing into the state “with nefarious intentions.”
Sarma added, “Assam is not a place for illegal entrants. We will find you, catch you and deport you,” praising police and intelligence units for mounting a coordinated interception across vulnerable border points. Officials said all sixteen detainees have been booked under provisions of the Foreigners Act and that a wider probe is under way to identify the network facilitating their entry.
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The choice of phrase, on a day when fans across India were celebrating one of the country’s most recognisable film icons, lent the development a cinematic undertone. The remark quickly went viral on social media platforms, with many highlighting both its timing and Sarma’s tendency for sharp-edged one-liners.
Assam has long been a flashpoint in national debates over illegal migration, particularly from Bangladesh. Issues surrounding demographic change, border management and the National Register of Citizens have shaped political narratives in the state for decades.
Successive governments have emphasised robust policing along riverine and porous stretches of the border, where infiltration has historically been difficult to monitor.
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