At a rally against those they termed illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, Veer Lachit Sena leader Shrinkhal Chaliha declared “if a hand is raised on one of our girls, we will cut ten such hands and throw them in the Brahmaputra; if two hands are raised, we will cut twenty.” He also alleged that Bangladeshis had encroached on large areas of land belonging to Assamese people and demanded that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma evict them and return the land. Chaliha further claimed that the indigenous population did not vote for MLA Aminul Islam and that he won only because of Bangladeshi immigrants.