[Assam] Cong jumps to Nehru defence

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

Cong jumps to Nehru defence
           OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT                            New Delhi, Oct. 10: The Congress has stood by Jawaharlal Nehru’s reported request to Assam’s first chief minister, Gopinath Bordoloi, in 1949 to accommodate refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan.
           According to the party, at that point of time Bangladeshi refugees had entered several parts of the country. 
           They comprised more Hindus than Muslims, who have allegedly been utilised ever since by Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. 
           Digvijay Singh, in-charge of party affairs in Assam, claimed it was a misconception that the ISI of Pakistan has used only Muslims in their network in India. 
           “If you conduct a study since 1949, it will show that more Hindus than Muslims have been used by the ISI,” he claimed.
           The letter, purportedly written by the first Prime Minister in 1949 to Gopinath Bordoloi, advises Assam’s first chief minister to accommodate refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan in his state. 
           Singh said refugees from East Pakistan had then taken shelter in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere in the country, so it was justifiable for Nehru to ask Assam to accommodate the refugees. 
           The letter was made public last week by a relative of one of Bordoloi’s confidants and reported in a section of the local press. This had given enough ammunition to the BJP and AGP to accuse the Congress of having continued with Nehru’s alleged policy of not paying attention to the influx problem.
           Nehru allegedly wrote the letter on May 18, 1949, replying to Bordoloi’s missive dated May 7 the same year, in which the chief minister expressed concern over influx from East Pakistan. While the BJP has accused the Congress of being pro-migrant since the days of Nehru, former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said the discovery vindicated those who participated in the anti-migrant agitation from the late Seventies to the early Eighties.
           The party has said it is serious about resolving the problem of illegal migrants in the state. 
           Singh said upgradation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, with use of photographs, would be completed by 2008. The amended Foreigners Regulation Act is also in force and is supported by all, Singh said.
           The act came into force after the Supreme Court directive to scrap the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, which was seen to be ineffective in detecting Bangladeshi nationals. 
           The Congress was accused of supporting the legislation in order to garner Muslim votes.

 		
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