GUWAHATI, 28 Dec: In view of the “grim situation” created by illegal immigrants from Bangla-desh across India, a regional forum of nationalist citizens urged the union government to adopt a “rock-hard” policy to detect and deport all the intruders as early as possible.
The Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) in a statement lamented that successive governments in New Delhi have not understood the real menace of illegal Bangladeshi nationals.
“In a Rajya Sabha debate during the year 2016, it was revealed that no less than 20 million illegal Bangladeshi nationals were taking shelter across the country. Prior to 2014, the central government estimated that this number was 12 million. If we add the Rohingya people from Arakan state of Myanmar, who continue entering India through the porous Bangladesh border, the number of illegal residents will only increase to many extents,” the PPFA said, and questioned how much more degradation New Delhi is waiting for.
The Northeast regional forum said that the people of Assam alerted the nation about the menace of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the ’80s itself. “But neither the national political clouts nor the mainland intellectuals (including editor-journalists) could understand the hazard that has almost grabbed the resources belonging to the Assamese community,” it said.
If the illegal migration issue, which was highlighted by the agitating people of Assam during 1979 to 1985, had been addressed properly, the country would not have faced the crisis today, the PPFA said.
“Nonetheless, quite an uprising has been observed in the country lately against the illegal migrants. Mainstream media outlets are now full of such news and views. Can the political parties, irrespective of their status (in the government or in opposition),come together and make a strong decision to identify all illegal citizens and deport them accordingly? If the deportation is not possible immediately for various international obligations, they must be prevented from taking undue advantages, including the voting rights. Will anyone listen to it?” the PPFA statement added.
