It was not your typical border security announcement. On Friday, September 18, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to X to declare that Assam Police had successfully intercepted 10 alleged infiltrators attempting to enter India through the state’s border — and he delivered the news with a Bollywood punchline that only Himanta could manage to pull off.
In his post, Sarma described the 10 individuals as “first copy” versions of characters from the film Dhurandhar, alleging they had attempted to cross with “ulterior motives” aimed at disturbing social harmony. He captioned the post “10 Ka Dum,” complete with a fist emoji, before hailing Assam Police as the “Real Hamzas” — a reference to a character from the same film — who moved swiftly and shut down what he called a border misadventure.
“10 First Copy of Dhurandhars tried to infiltrate into India with ulterior motives and disturb our social harmony,” Sarma wrote. “Assam Police promptly moved in as the Real Hamzas and prevented this misadventure along the border. We remain alert, ALWAYS!”
Short, punchy, and loaded with pop culture references — the post did exactly what it was designed to do. It spread fast. Whether you follow Assam politics closely or stumbled onto it through a retweet, the message landed. A fist emoji and a film reference will always travel further than a dry government press release. That much is certain.
But beyond the drama of the delivery, some important questions remain unanswered. Sarma did not reveal the identities of the 10 intercepted individuals, their nationalities, or the precise stretch of border where the alleged attempt took place. No separate police statement was issued. For a matter that touches national security, the absence of verifiable detail is the kind of thing that invites scrutiny — and opposition parties in Assam will almost certainly press for more.
Assam shares a long and historically fraught border with Bangladesh. The issue of illegal immigration has been a raw, deeply political nerve in the state for decades. The BJP government under Himanta has built much of its identity around being tough on infiltration. Announcements like this one slot cleanly into that narrative. Critics will ask whether these are isolated individuals or something more organized — and they’ll want more than a social media post to be convinced.
At the same time, if the interception happened the way the Chief Minister described, it points to a degree of ground-level alertness that cannot simply be dismissed. Borders are not walls. They’re long, porous, human lines that require constant, vigilant effort to hold — especially in a state as geographically complex as Assam.
“We remain alert, ALWAYS!” Himanta wrote. Perhaps that is the one line that cuts through everything else. For the people living along those borders — their land, their livelihoods, their sense of security tied up in the question of who crosses and who doesn’t — border security is never just a headline. It is the ground beneath their feet.
