Cross-posting from "The Bharatiya - Identity, Vision, Agenda, Proposition" Thread
Published on May 3, 2014
Mamata dares Modi on Bangladeshi migrants issue: PTI
NANDIGRAM: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday dared BJP prime ministerial candidate, to implement his promise of sending Bangladeshi's packing after May 16 if his party came to power, saying that the 'paper tiger' should first meet the 'Royal Bengal Tiger'.
"Touch a single person, we will see. The paper tiger should know there is a Royal Bengal tiger in Sunderbans. First you face that," Banerjee, the chief minister, told an election meeting here.
Claiming that the Gujarat chief minister did not know history, she said that Bangladeshis came to India under a pact signed in 1971 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh President Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.
"He does not know that speaking in Bangla does not make one a Bangladeshi. Anyone who speaks in Bangla across India is branded a Bangladesh. This is discrimination," she said alleging that Modi wanted to to divide Bengalis and non-Bengalis.
At a rally in Serampore on Sunday, Modi had said that Bangladeshis should be ready to pack their bags after May 16, the date of counting for the Lok Sabha elections.
She reiterated that one who did not follow secularism could not become the Prime Minister.
Banerjee also dismissed BJP President Rajanath Singh's overture of a 'handsome package" to West Bengal if the NDA came to power, saying she did not want it, but interest on loans being deducted by the Centre should be returned.
"We do not want a package. We do not want alms. We want return of money deducted by the Centre forcibly for the loans taken by the previous Left Front government," she said.
She claimed that the Centre deducted Rs one lakh crore as interest from the state.
Seeking to reach out to the Trinamool Congress Rajnath Singh at an election meeting at Naihati yesterday had said that a 'handsome package' would be given for the development of West Bengal if his party formed the next government.
The BJP chief's overture to Banerjee came a few days after the two parties locked horns over Narendra Modi's attack on the TMC chief on April 27 at a poll rally in Serampore in Hooghly district.
For reference here is a good article on the issue of Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrantion
Published on Sep 16, 2012
By Manohar Seetharam
Illegal Immigration : Denial Inc And Their Lies
Under the Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace signed in 1972 ( known as Indira-Mujib treaty and not renewed since it’s expiry in 1997) India had agreed to take responsibility of all migrants who entered India on or before March 24, 1971. Thus according to this treaty anyone who entered India before the cutoff date is not a de facto illegal immigrant. More importantly the Assam Accord signed in 1985 between the representatives of the Government Of India and the leaders of the Assam agitation too underscored and accepted the cutoff date of 24th March, 1971 for identification and deportation of illegal immigrants. The citizenship status of the children of those illegal migrants would however be decided by the provisions stated in section 3 of the Citizenship Act of 1955, which reads
- A person born in India on or after 26th January, 1950, but before 1st July, 1987, is a citizen of India by birth irrespective of the nationality of his/her parents.
- A person born in India on or after 1st July,1987, but before 3rd December, 2004, is considered a citizen of India by birth if either of his/her parents is a citizen of India at the time of his/her birth.
- A person born in India on or after 3rd December, 2004, is considered citizen of India by birth if both the parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of his/her birth.
Also, it is important to keep in mind that even those migrants who came to India befoe the cutoff date of 24th March, 1971 would become fully legal citizens of India only upon going through the process of naturalization.
It seems not just Bangladeshi govt. is unwilling to accept illegal Bangladeshi immigrants back, not even those who entered after March 24, 1971, but even Indian politicians are willing to not heed to Indian Law.
Also the question is whether India should hang on to the provisions of the Peace Treaty even though Bangladesh has been found to violate it in the past by helping many insurgent groups against India.