The Hindu : National : Patil misleading nation, says BJP

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Patil misleading nation, says BJP

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has charged Home Minister Shivraj Patil with misleading the country on the issue of a suggestion that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh be rounded up and kept in detention centres before their deportation. The party has demanded an apology from Mr. Patil.

In a statement here on Friday, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar demanded that if Mr. Patil did not apologise, the Prime Minister should ask him to do so.

It was Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje who had disclosed in an interview the Centre’s suggestion, given with the rider that the State would have to bear the cost of running the detention centre.

The Home Minister hinted that the Centre had not made any such suggestion.

Mr. Javadekar said a meeting of the Nodal Authority of the Home Ministry dealing with this issue took place on January 24, 2007. He cited paragraph number 5 of the minutes as saying that “State governments should set up detention centres for detention of illegally staying foreigners pending their deportation.”

On March 12, 2007 the Centre issued a circular on the procedure to be adopted for deportation. The minutes of another meeting on April 25, 2007, Mr. Javadekar said, suggested that the States should set up the detention centres and also fund them, and this should be done in a time-bound manner.

“These documents and facts clearly prove that the Home Minister has evidently lied on this vital security initiative for political purposes and has also tried to mislead the nation on the issue,” he said. And to make matters worse, he noted, some Congress leaders, including the Delhi Chief Minister, alleged Ms. Raje was trying to play politics.

On Mr. Patil comparing, and even “equating,” the case of Sarabjit, an Indian national on death row in Pakistan on charges of involvement in bomb explosions in Pakistan, and Afzal Guru, awaiting hanging in the Parliament attack case, Mr. Javadekar said the Minister had made “irresponsible utterances.” 0He claimed that no one in the country or outside had raised the demand for clemency for Afzal Guru on any ground.

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