India is not a dharamsala: BJP MP

SHILLONG, SEPT 13: BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and former Pioneer’s editor Chandan Mitra said the system where “foreigners” have more rights than nationals should be ‘stop’, as India is not a dharamshala that is easy to walk in and walk out.

Mitra also urged the north eastern states including Meghalaya to adopt three strategies– ‘prevent, prohibit and protect- as a solution to tackle the problem of infiltration.“Once we do this, the message goes out that this “free-morning-walk” between India and Bangladesh should be stopped,” he said.

Taking part in an interactive session on “Foreigners issue of North East- a problem that awaits solution” organized as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of Dr Radhakhrishan Boys Sec School at RR Colony on Saturday,   Mitra, said no “foreigners” can have the same right as genuine nationals of a sovereign state like India because it is not a “dharamshala” which is free for anyone to walk-in and walk-out.

Raising the question of who is a foreigner, the problem and solution related to issue, Mitra however revealed that ironically, India does not have any proper statistic to determine the number of foreigners residing in the country.

“Unofficial estimates have suggested that over 4 crore Bangladeshis are residing in different parts of the country, which reflect the inefficiency of our system,” Mitra said adding “We say we want to throw them out but don’t know who are illegal settlers. However if detected and the actual number is established, some action has to be taken.”

Mitra said the BJP has been selling this idea of tackling such problem, by first detecting (foreigners) them , delete their names from the voters list and finally deporting them back to their own land.

Mitra, however, pointed out another problem faced by the country is that political parties are having vested interest in protecting the foreigners because of vote bank politics.

Stating that problem of north east is complex and difficult, Mitra said, “The solution is to prevent foreigners from invading this fragile NE states and India as there is no place to accommodate them anymore.” He also suggested the need to adopt the three approaches towards the problem which is to prevent, prohibit and protect.

Mitra said that he knows how easy it is to cross the International border and the need of the hour is to prevent any further immigration into the country.

Stressing on the need to prohibit foreigners, Mitra said that there is a need to prohibit those who have come to here in search of  jobs as well as those who are already here after  acquiring citizenship and nationalism.  He was also of opinion that those coming here for jobs must come here but there should be due process of registration and documentation.

Mitra said, “It is only when you prevent and prohibit then you can protect the ethnicity, value, heritage, culture of our land.”  According to him, when the number (illegal immigration) becomes unmanageable, protection of the nationalism will become next to impossible.

Taking part in the discussion, United Democratic Party (UDP) legislator Jemino Mawthoh said that the issue of foreigners in Meghalaya and north east India is still in a ‘hazy’ and ‘wake-up’ stage. He, however, said but yet the state and region have witnessed series of agitations on the issue disrupting normal life affecting economic development.

Debating on the issue foreigners, Mawthoh said, “The answer the question as to who is a foreigner, we need to know who are the inside others and outside others.”According to him, the foreigner issue is more than the issue of influx and infiltration.

“This confusion has affected relationship of region with the other states in the country,” Mawthoh said while terming that the vague foreigner’s term is unclear creating ‘artificial barriers’ in NE region.

Mawthoh, however, said in the context of Meghalaya, when talk about foreigners, the state need to identify and categorize them. He said, “If we can detect, we should deport them. Foreigners (illegal) we should deport them why should the issue awaits solution.”

Mawthoh further suggested that there is a need for mechanism which can address both the ‘fear’ and ‘hopes’ as well through dialogue and understanding. He said the first step is to build bridges rather building walls around us.- By Our Reporter