BHUBANESWAR: As the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) report has become a political flash-point with the Bharatiya Janata Party asking the Congress to make its stand clear on the contentious issue, the silence of the saffron party on the deportation of Bangladeshi infiltrators from the State is baffling.
The BJP, which spearheaded several movements in the past demanding deportation of people from Bangladesh who have illegally settled in Odisha, deliberately brushed aside the issue at a Press meet here on Wednesday.“We have nothing to comment on the issue as the matter is pending before the court of law,” State BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty said.
Ironically, the BJP was a coalition partner of the Naveen Patnaik Government which had issued ‘Quit India’ notices to Bangladeshi migrants in 2002 and 2005. While several persons who were issued these notices approached the authorities with their grievances, some of them had moved the Orissa High Court challenging the order. The infiltration issue had been relegated following widespread opposition to the January 15, 2005 move of the Government to deport 1,551 ‘illegal settlers’ from Mahakalapada tehsil of Kendrapara district.
Political forces and rights activists had rallied behind the Bangla nationals after they were asked to pack their bags and served ‘Quit India’ notice in accordance with the Foreigners Act.Even the BJP, which had all along been passionately critical of exodus of foreign nationals into this coastal region, opposed the deportation of Bangla infiltrators on the ground that they were Hindus.
However, the issue came to haunt the Bangladeshi settlers in 2008 when ABVP activists took out a rally and demonstrated before the office of Kendrapara district Collector demanding their expeditious deportation.While appreciating the stand taken by the BJD in Parliament on the issue, Mohanty came down heavily on the Congress for opposing the draft NRC report.