NEW DELHI: The national register of citizens is essential to protect India’s sovereignty as it will help distinguish between refugees, illegal migrants and citizens and thwart efforts to sacrifice interests of Assam for the pursuit of “imported vote banks,” senior minister Arun Jaitley has said.

In a blog, the senior BJP leader has said that at the time of Partition, Assam was also a sore point along with Jammu and Kashmir and opinion in Pakistan resented its inclusion in India. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in his book ‘Myth of Independence’ wrote that Assam is as significant and some districts adjoining East Pakistan can be claimed.

Jaitley said that similarly, in the pre-1971 era, before he became favourable to India, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then East Pakistan leader, in his book ‘Eastern Pakistan, its Population and Economics’ had observed that inclusion of Assam was necessary to become financially and economically strong.

“Leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee must realise that India’s sovereignty is not a play thing. Sovereignty and citizenship are the soul of India. Imported vote banks are not,” he said.

There are special provisions of citizenship covered by 1985 Assam Accord that was intended to address the problem of illegal migration. Twenty years ago, then home minister Indrajit Gupta, told Parliament that there were over 10 million illegal immigrants in India, of which 5.4 million were in West Bengal and 4 million in Assam.

The figure has increased since then with the Supreme Court noting the dangerous consequences of large scale illegal migration from Bangladesh for Assam and the nation as a whole. “No misconceived and mistaken notions of secularism should be allowed to come in the way of doing so,” it said.

Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi governments had held that those who entered from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971 were to be repatriated. This is what Indira Gandhi’s commitment to India and the people of this nation was. Rajiv Gandhi stuck to the substance of the commitment.

In fact, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee herself expressed concern over illegal migration in 2005, when she said it had become a disaster. “You can see the Bangladeshi as well as the Indian names in the list,” she had said. At that time this was seen to benefit the CPM.

