NEW DELHI, Sept 21 � Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley on Tuesday accused the Centre and Assam Government for playing �vote-bank politics� in dealing with infiltration in north-eastern states and suggested �an end� to the porous borders�.
�My own view is that the present Government � both in Assam and in Delhi have no political will to seriously detect and deport the foreigners and illegal immigrants,� said Jaitley while delivering a lecture on �Current issues of North-Eastern India� organised by BJP�s North East India �Sampark� Cell here.
Jaitley said �to solve the problem of North East, what is extremely important is to put an end to this porous border. And therefore, resolving all the boundary issues and putting an end to that porous border checks further infiltration. You need to have a legal mechanism. You need separate tribunals to solve the problem.�
With an obvious reference to Congress, Jaitley charged various political parties with indulging in �vote-bank politics� while dealing with 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 areas which got adversely affected due to large-scale infiltration,� he said.
Jaitley said BJP had a very clear stand on this issue. �BJP was clear on this that detection and deportation is necessary. You cannot allow the demographic and the cultural character of some of these States to be completely altered.�
Seeking a dialogue with neighbouring countries to resolve border issues and infiltration, Jaitley said �fortunately, you now have a Government with which we have a reasonable relationship in Bangladesh and even at the cost of a lot of criticism internationally, successive Governments in India have kept a working relationship with the military regime in Myanmar.�
Reiterating that the border disputes with neighbouring countries have to be settled to bring normalcy in North-East, the BJP leader said �even though China has settled its boundaries with several neighbours, it has not settled with India.�
�For some reasons, they have not been forthcoming in settling boundary disputes. One can assess what their intentions are. But the moment we settle the border disputes in these areas, that will ensure that peace and amity will come to this region,� said Jaitley.
He also hinted at settlement of border issues by fencing the eastern border on the model of similar action in large parts of Pakistan border.
�While negotiating this, the sentiment of the people and the country is required to be taken. Government negotiators have to be particularly conscious of India�s territorial sovereignty,� he said.
Talking about the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Jaitley said �we require a twin mechanism. You 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.� � PTI
