Modi to 'go slow' on illegal immigrants

Narendra Modi's government will 'go slow' on its poll-time promise to identify and pushback illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Senior Home Ministry officials say the process will begin from Assam, where there is a strong public resentment against illegal migration from Bangladesh, a feeling the BJP capitalised to win seven of the state's 14 parliamentary seats.

Assam's ruling Congress, accused by the BJP of encouraging illegal migration from Bangladesh to create 'votebanks', managed to win only three seats, and the minority party, AUDF, led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, won another three.

"In Assam, we are asking for an updating of the National Register for Citizens (NRC) based on the 1971 electoral rolls. That was the year Bangladesh was born and, under the Indira-Mujib Agreement, anyone coming to India after March 21, 1971, is to be considered an illegal migrant. So we will go by the existing laws to identify illegal migrants," said a top Home Ministry official, unwilling to be named.

The Assam government had launched pilot projects to update the NRC but the effort was halted when Bengali-speaking migrants in the state's western district put up a stiff resistance.

"We have to take great care to ensure that no bonafide Indian national, whatever his religion, is unjustly victimised. So, we will rather take our time," the official added.

BJP leaders in Assam say their party workers will help the administration in identifying illegal entrants.

They say it is the party's commitment to voters in the state that will have to be fulfilled, but admit they must proceed with caution to smother chances of ethnic or religious conflicts.

The Home Ministry official said once the NRC is updated on the basis of the 1971 electoral rolls, residents who do not figure in it will be struck off the electoral rolls and moved to designated camps for illegal migrants.

"Only after that will the question of deportation arise. It will be at least two years before the illegal migrants are fully identified," the Home Ministry official said.

Assam goes to the state assembly elections in 2016 along with West Bengal.

"So, that perfectly fits the BJP plan of keeping the pot boiling on this sensitive issue to reap the maximum dividend in Assam, where the BJP aspires to replace the Congress as the ruling party," says a top BJP leader close to Modi.

"We plan to go about this in a way that no bonafide Indian national is affected or victimised, or our relations with Bangladesh are affected," the leader said, refusing to be named.

He hinted at possible accords on water-sharing and land boundary swaps with Bangladesh within the next two years.

"Bangladesh will surely accept anyone who has entered this country from their place after March 25, 1971. That is perfectly legal as per our treaties and we will only look for those to deport who came after that date," he said.

But in West Bengal, the BJP is less than optimistic of getting an NRC update because Modi's pitch for pushing back illegal migrants from Bangladesh has been stiffly opposed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

She had even asked for Modi's arrest when the BJP leader had raised the issue during the poll campaign.

"We will see how the process goes in Assam and it can then be extended to other Indian states," the Home Ministry official said.