NEW DELHI, March 22 - The Centre today clarified that surrendered militants without any criminal cases pending against them can contest in elections.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju�s response came in reply to a question by Biswajeet Daimary, who wanted to know whether a former militant leader without having surrendered could contest elections. His obvious reference was to Kokrajhar Lok Sabha MP Naba Sarania.
However, Rijiju in a Question Hour discussion replied that Daimary was referring to a Lok Sabha MP from Assam who was elected in 2014 during the previous UPA regime and when the NDA was not in power. He said that if somebody is elected to the Lok Sabha, it would not be proper for him to comment. �I do not wish to offer any clarifications in this matter,� Rijiju said.
But he clarified that if somebody belonging to some organisation doesn�t surrender but abandons his weapon and if he doesn�t have any criminal case pending against him, then he may join the electoral process.
Meanwhile, he said at least15,314 militants have surrendered under the surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy for the northeastern region. Altogether, 235 individuals are still undergoing rehabilitation under the Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Scheme as of financial year 2016-17, the minister said.
The assistance given under the present scheme has components of rehabilitation and is intended to enable the former militants to join the mainstream, he said, adding, currently, only Assam and Manipur have claimed this money for rehabilitation and surrender policy.
�Most of the militants have been merged into the national mainstream and a very few are left. We are looking forward for more surrenders in the future. In terms of numbers, it is a large number,� he added.
Since 1998, the Government of India has been implementing the policy of how to get back those militants who have gone into the wrong path and take them into the mainstream. The government has been giving from time to time all kinds of support in the name of rehabilitation and surrender policy and in each state of the Northeast, excluding Mizoram and Sikkim.
�We are encouraged by the number of the militants who have surrendered and they have merged into the mainstream,� the minister said. �There are various steps being taken to ensure that those surrendered militants don�t get back into their old profession... there are various vocational trainings being launched by the state governments... to ensure that they take care not only of their lives but also their families,� he added.
