Centre to talk to all on IMDT

The Centre would talk to all stake holders, including states, before formulating its stand on the controversial IMDT Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said."We would like to hear the opinion of everyone, including states, and we will work on it after that. We will not leave even a single person," Mr. Patil said.He said the Centre will abide by the Supreme Court verdict and the future course of action would be decided only after wide-ranging discussions on the issue.

In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set up a Group of Ministers (GOM) to study the issue and advise the Government on what has to be done.The apex court had quashed the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act after terming it unconstituional.

But BJP and allies have decided to oppose the idea. According to senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan that the party and its allies would oppose any move by the Congress-led UPA government to give 'rebirth' to the scrapped IMDT Act in a
different form.

Mr. Mahajan claimed the UPA government's decision to form a Group of Ministers to review the Apex court's verdict repealing the IMDT Act, 1983, was actually an indication that the government had reservations about it. He said the issue over the IMDT Act will remain burning till the UPA government states that it has accepted the Supreme court's verdict.

''There is every possibility that the Congress would try to bring legislation similar to the IMDT Act or amend the Foreigners' Act to make it IMDT Act like,'' Mr Mahajan said. The BJP leader said the NDA would oppose tooth and nail any
attempt by the UPA government to formulate a new 'IMDT-like' law in Parliament. ''Not only in Parliament, we will oppose it on the streets of the country. IMDT Act was a major hurdle in tackling the problem of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants swarming not only Assam and Bengal but the entire country,'' he stated.

Reacting to criticism from different quarters, including the All Assam Students Union (AASU) that the saffron brigade had done nothing to get the IMDT Act scrapped while it was in power, Mr. Mahajan said, the BJP has been opposing the IMDT Act in letter and spirit since the day the IMDT ordinance was tabled in Parliement in
1983. He said the BJP-led NDA government had been filing affidavits
favouring repeal of the IMDT act during 2000-2004 whenever the Supreme court had asked for central government's response in matters related to the IMDT Act case.
Had the NDA government not been cooperative to the IMDT act case
being heard in the Apex court on the basis of the petition filed former AASU president Sarbananda Sonowal it might not have been scrapped, Mr Mahajan said.
He said the NDA government could not get the act scrapped as it didn't have the majority in the Rajya Sabha.  And a joint session could not be held as the bill couldn't be tabled in the Lok Sabha in time due to the failure of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home, headed by Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to send it back to Parliament
in time, Mr Mahajan said while reacting to the AASU criticism against the NDA government's failure to hold a joint session of Parliament to scrap the act.

Meanwhile Nagaland Chief Minister N. Rio has welcomed scrapping of IMDT act
and said it would be able to control the influx of migrants in the region. He said the scrapping of the IMDT was necessitated as there should not be two laws on foreigners' issue.
On the other hand like the BJP, AGP has also opposed to ''new IMDT-like Act''
AGP General Secretary Dilip Saikia said the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in the state was now trying to give ''a communal colour'' to the Supreme Court's historic
verdict, repealing the IMDT Act.

AGP spokesperson Jagadish Bhuyan said minority communities residing in Assam should not feel apprehensive over the repeal of the IMDT Act and assured, on part the regional party, to safeguard their interests.

The AGP also wrote to President A P J Abdul Kalam, urging him to use his office to make the UPA Government at the Centre and the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in the state take immediate and appropriate steps in this regard. They asked Dr Kalam to ensure that the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) in the state was updated and to identify illegal migrants who had entered the state after
March 25, 1971.

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