Shortly after BJP's Lok Sabha MP Varun Gandhi wrote a piece in a national newspaper slamming the government's policy of deporting the Rohingya refugees, a senior minister from the Narendra Modi cabinet hit back, saying the statement is against national interest.

In his column, Gandhi, a Member of Parliament from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, has asked the government to keep in mind not just international agreements India is a signatory to, but also "the rich Indian tradition" of helping refugees.

Gandhi said India must give asylum to Rohingyas but before that analysis of genuine security concerns should be done. "Four crore people have sought refuge in India since independence," he wrote in Navbharat Times today and later shared the piece with his 56,000-plus followers on Twitter.

VARUN vs AHIR ON ROHINGYA

Gandhi also called for a national refugee policy, which differentiates between people fleeing a country following persecution as opposed to those fleeing poverty.

The government, which has decided to deport nearly 40,000 Rohingya Muslims, is furious. "Anybody who has the national interest in mind will not make such a statement," Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said.

Ahir added that the government is using full force to stop the Rohingya from settling in India since they are a security threat.

After Ahir's comments, Varun said his recent piece focused primarily on defining India's asylum policy, with clear demarcations on how "we would accept refugees".

"As for the Rohingyas, I've called for empathy, leading potentially to asylum, while vetting each applicant for national security concerns (sic)," he tweeted.

ROHINGYA MUSLIMS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: GOVT

The Supreme Court is hearing multiple petitions both in favour of and against deporting Rohingya Muslims, who have been fleeing Myanmar following its army's crackdown in the Rakhine state.

Terming the Rohingya refugees as "illegal" immigrants, the government recently told the Supreme Court that some of them were part of a "sinister" design of Pakistan's ISI and terror groups such as the ISIS, whose presence in the country will pose a "serious" national security threat.

Nearly 40,000 Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in India in the last five years, with most of them settling in Jammu, New Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan.

However, the latest exodus of the Muslim minority Rohingyas began on August 25, when the Myanmar army launched fresh offensive in Rakhine, following an attack by Rohingya rebels on multiple government posts.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called the Myanmar army operation in Rakhine a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing".

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