Scrapping of migrants Act hailed by Venkaiah

Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu today welcomed the scrapping of the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal (IMDT) Act by the Supreme Court.

He also cautioned the ruling party that filing a review petition on this order would be detrimental to the nation's integrity. According to Naidu, the IMDT Act, applicable only in Assam, was being misused by Bangladeshi migrants, to settle down in the state.

"It is the only Act where proving migrants' status is the responsibility of the authorities and not of the accused," said Naidu.

He said there had been an influx of illegal migrants to Assam since all other states came under the Foreigners Act, 1946.

"In fact, in the last 20 years, there have been only 1500 illegal migrants reported in Assam, whereas according to a statement made by Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, there were 1.2 crore illegal migrants in the country. The disparity in figures says it all," he said.

He added that the BJP hoped that the government would carry out what the party termed the "3 D" programme of detection of migrants, deletion of their names from the voters' list and deportation of these migrants. He was particularly scathing when it came to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who he said, was ignoring the entire problem just to foster his vote bank politics.

Naidu said West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee had also expressed concerns over illegal migrants despite the fact that the Left parties had consistently supported the Act. "Obviously, his experience in administration has taught him the truth," said Naidu.