"INFILTRATION from Bangladesh has posed a major threat to security of the entire north eastern region. The central and the state governments have no political will to show who is foreigner and who is not in the region. Time has come to take effective measures to detect and deport the infiltrators as the menace has made deep impact on the society, economy and security of the entire region. Since the issue is of national importance it should be delinked from the vote politics,” said senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on September 20. He was delivering a lecture on “Current Issues of North-Eastern India” organised by North East India Sampark Cell of BJP at party headquarters in New Delhi.
A large number of advocates, law students and student leaders from north eastern states who settled in New Delhi and the national capital region, participated in the function.
Shri Jaitley said the BJP has a very clear stand on the issue of infiltration. “BJP is clear on it and feels that detection and deportation of infiltrators is necessary. You cannot allow the demographic and cultural character of some of these states to be completely altered,” he said. “To solve the problems of North East, what is extremely important is to put an end to the porous borders and check further infiltration. We need to have a legal mechanism and separate Tribunals to solve the problems,” he said.
With an obvious reference to Congress party, he charged various political parties with indulging in “vote-bank politics” while dealing with the infiltrators. These political parties, he said, thought that “they cannot politically succeed” without them. “And therefore, there was a conscious effort to alter the demography of these regions—some parts of Assam and Tripura, which are the areas which got adversely affected due to large-scale infiltration,” he said.
Talking about the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, he said the country requires a twin mechanism. “We will need security to eliminate terror and infiltration where security is required. But you also need a safeguard to ensure there is no abuse of this security,” he said. “Mind space in relation to Kashmir should be in relation to North-East also,” he said.
Maintaining that North-East was worst affected due to the country’s Partition, he said access through Bangladesh to the region would reduce the distance by 700-800 kms and would also lead to accelerated development. “When the Prime Minister recently visited Bangladesh, I had expected that the issue of access would be clinched, but it did not happen,” he said.
He said the North East issues should be top of our agenda. “We have to identify the areas of core competence for generation of economy in north east. There is need for raising infrastructure i.e. roads, railways, inland water, communication, etc,” he added.
Seeking a dialogue with neighbouring countries to resolve border issues and infiltration, he said it would bring normalcy in the north east region. “While negotiating this, the sentiments of the people and the country are required to be taken. Government negotiators have to be particularly conscious of India’s territorial sovereignty,” he cautioned.
Stating that the huge presence of students, professionals and employees from the North East region in various sectors in metro cities is a welcome sign.
Earlier, convener of North East India Sampark Cell Sunil Deodhar said the situation in North East with regard to security, development, educational and medical facilities was worst compared to the rest of India. Parents are left with no choice but to send their wards to metropolitan cities for higher education, where they face discrimination on account of their mongoloid features. The BJP has established the Sampark Cell with a view to prevent such discrimination as also to integrate the people of the region into the national mainstream, he said.
Expressing solidarity with the earthquake victims of Sikkim Shri Deodhar said party president Shri Nitin Gadkari has directed the party workers to extend every possible relief to the victims.
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