NEW DELHI, Nov 22 - Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has stirred another controversy on Wednesday by suggesting that the Government of India should adopt a zero-tolerance policy while deporting those found to be unregistered immigrants in the on-going National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) exercise.
Extending his support to the on-going (NRC) exercise, General Rawat claimed that those settled in the Indian territory without legal jurisdiction pose a threat to national security.
General Rawat also condemned the political parties and human rights� groups who want citizenship for the illegal settlers, accusing them of �undermining national security�.
�If they are illegal, they need to be deported. If they are legal, they need to be amalgamated. But then that amalgamation must happen in a manner that benefits everybody. Let it not go the political way,� he said during an interview with news channel.
General Rawat, while targeting political groups allegedly supporting illegal settlers, said �these parties� are trying to get them citizenship issued without the legal procedure.
The Army Chief had voiced similar concerns, while addressing a seminar in February, where he said that the unprecedented rise of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) should be considered as a sign of alarm.
�When we talk of Jan Sangh, with two members of Parliament and where they have reached, AIUDF is moving at a faster pace in Assam. Finally, what will be the state of Assam, we have to take a call,� he had said.
Badruddin Ajmal had in February marked strong dissent to General Rawat�s comments. �I am an Indian citizen, and so were my forefathers. The Army Chief has no right to malign my party. The AIUDF is thoroughly secular and has significant number of Hindu leaders and supporters in Assam,� he had said.
