The issue of illegal immigrants in Assam represents lack of national clarity over a desirable policy on the issue of immigrants. Numerical guarantee in elections has solely authored this ambiguity over the decades by undermining, in the process, considerations of national security. However, if ambiguity is by choice, its motif should hardly be electoral considerations when it comes to the domain of national security.

In a series of about turns, the Government of India performed the latest volte-face when it retracted its position that there were about 50 lakh illegal immigrants in Assam. On 23 July, 2004 Union Minister of State(Home) Manikrao Gavit made a ‘clarificatory note’ in the Rajya Sabha on behalf of Union Minister of State (Home), Shriprakash Jaiswal that the figures provided by the latter on the same floor on 14 July was not based on “a comprehensive studyâ€