Guwahati, Jul 31 (IANS): Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani Tuesday blamed illegal immigration of people from Bangladesh into Assam for the communal violence in the state.

Advani, who is touring the state, said at a press conference that there was a "criminal delay" by the government in handling the crisis.

The over week-long violence from July 19 between the Bodos and the Bengali-speaking Muslim settlers left 56 dead and lakhs homeless.

"Today's situation arose firstly because of a criminal delay in dealing with the situation when symptoms were already there that something could happen. But as I said, the introspection must lead to identification of the root cause, which is this issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh," Advani said.

"As a result of the infiltration in collusion of state government and government of India, people of Assam are feeling that they are losing control over their own land while illegal Bangladeshis have embarked upon large-scale land grab," Advani said.

"The second is the ethnic problem. The Bodos face the threat of marginalisation in their own land," he said.

"The third problem is the demographic change taking place in Assam," he said.

Comparing the situation of the displaced in Assam with that of the displaced Kashmiri Pundits, Advani said: "I would like the prime minister (Manmohan Singh), Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and state government of Assam to honestly introspect as to where the guilt lies. How did all this happen?"