Sunday, August 12, 2012 Shekhar Iyer, Hindustan Times New Delhi, August 10, 2012 Email to Author

First Published: 00:04 IST(10/8/2012) Last Updated: 01:40 IST(10/8/2012)

Jaitley: Illegal immigrants root cause of violence

A day after the spar between Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and senior BJP leader LK Advani jeopardised the BJPs offensive to corner the government on Assams violence, leader of opposition Arun Jaitley sought to turn the tables in the Rajya Sabha, pushing his partys strong line against unchecked illegal migration from Bangladesh. Jaitley articulated the BJPs position, which is also the RSS stance, that unchecked illegal migration of Bangladeshis into Assam was at the root of the recurring ethnic clashes. He also sought to bring to the dock Congress CM Tarun Gogois political strategy, which had given him an unprecedented third term in May 2011 and reduced the BJP and the AGP to a single digit number in the assembly. As home minister Sushil Shinde did not to respond to Jaitely, several BJP leaders said the opposition leader had nailed the Congress. Jaitley charged the government with adopting the policy of vote-bank politics that led to the violence in the state. He said the Centres soft approach and Gogois scheme of things balancing fears and concerns of one community against another wont work in the long run. He said, You must respect the Supreme Courts verdict that struck down the IMDT Act, which put the onus on authorities to prove migrants were foreigners, and let Foreigners Act to extend to Assam. Referring to Assams first CM Gopinath Bordoloi he said, If you adopt the original line of Bordoloi (who wanted cultural and linguistic identity of Northeast), India will be safe in your hands. But if you adopt vote bank politics, I dont think this region is safe. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/911172.aspx Copyright 2012 HT Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.