The Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, on Thursday slammed the government for doing vote bank politics in the state of Assam and alleged it has led to the death of more than hundred people in the state. Jaitley said the Congress had realised that Assamese vote was going away from them and so they were in search for an alternative vote bank and it is the pursuit of that alternative vote bank that is the reason for the problems On Thursday.
‘If you are willing to go back to the Congress Party’s original stand, probably, India will be safer in your hands, but if you want the vote bank stand which your party has subsequently taken in relation to Assam, I do not think that region or this country would be secure in your hands ,’ said Jaitley in a debate in Rajya Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the government should go back to the policy adopted by its former leader in Assam Gopinath Bordoloi, who wanted the cultural and linguistic identity of the North East, particularly of Assam, to be maintained. Jaitley said it was due to the vote bank politics that the illegal immigrants are not deported.
‘Here was a government which not only discarded the original Assam line, but encouraged illegal infiltration en masse in search of vote bank politics,’ said the leader of the opposition. He added that it was illegal infiltration that was causing tension in the area and the government has not allowed identification of illegal immigrants and has formed tribunals thus resulting in concentration of immigrants.
The BJP leader further said it is not the first time that such communal tension has taken place in Assam and it is an issue that concerns the whole country and not just BJP and Congress. Jailtey added if the government continued with its clerical approach to the problem, these incidents will keep recurring.
‘If this problem gets repeated, the consequences not only on the State of Assam but also on India, as a nation, our national identity, our personality and even our geography, are going to be severe,’ said Jaitley.
SPECIAL CLASSES FOR STUDENTS IN RELIEF CAMPS FROM 16 AUG
Assam government will make arrangements to hold special classes for students in relief camps in trouble-torn BTAD and Dhubri districts where schools are scheduled to reopen on August 16, Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said On Thursday. ‘Special classes will be held for student inmates in the camps till the inmate families are rehabilitated in their homes,’ he told reporters.
Educational institutions should open by August 16 as students had suffered immensely due to the violence and classes will be held in the relief camps, which are mainly housed in schools and colleges of the affected districts, he said.
Relief camps are housed in 258 schools in BTAD, including 71 in Kokrajhar and 32 in Chirang, while there are 11 in Bongaigaon and 144 in Dhubri outside the BTAD.
Sarma, who is also the state health minister, said so far 22 people have died in relief camps in the four affected districts and 12 of them due to old age.
So far 1,42,000 people have been treated in the camps by 248 doctors, including eight from Delhi, and 50 special ambulances have been put into service to take the seriously ill to hospitals.
The health department, he said, has identified 4415 pregnant women in the camps and it has been decided to attach a nurse or shift them to a hospital 48 hours before their expected delivery dates.
There are 14,000 children between the age of 0-2 years and they have been given the necessary immunisation and provided with a kit to ensure basic hygiene.
The government has fixed three hospitals - Bongaigaon Civil Hospital, Barpeta Medical College Hospital and Gauhati Medical College Hospital - as referral centres, he added.
CBI INQUIRY STARTS, ARMY ON ALERT
A CBI inquiry into the Assam violence has been initiated and the army has been put on alert, the government told on Thursday as the opposition alleged that the region was not safe because of vote bank politics being indulged by the ruling Congress.
Replying to a debate on the issue of violence in Assam that has so far claimed 74 lives, Sushilkumar Shinde said the government was taking the issue seriously and has already initiated a CBI inquiry to ascertain the causes behind violent incidents. ‘The government is taking this issue very seriously,’ he said.
As the opposition created an uproar expressing dissatisfaction over his reply, Shinde said, ‘I have instructed the Army to be on alert. What else do you want?’ He also listed the steps taken by the government to provide relief and rehabilitation, but the opposition dismissed what he said by creating uproar.
Welcoming the CBI probe into the issue, Jaitley urged the government not to treat this as a ‘simple crime’ and not ‘miss out’ on the issues as to why such incidents have taken place.
‘If you are willing to go back to the Congress Party’s original stand, probably, India will be safer in your hands, but if you want the vote bank stand which your party has subsequently taken in relation to Assam, I do not think that region or this country would be secure in your hands ,’ said Jaitley in a debate in Rajya Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the government should go back to the policy adopted by its former leader in Assam Gopinath Bordoloi, who wanted the cultural and linguistic identity of the North East, particularly of Assam, to be maintained. Jaitley said it was due to the vote bank politics that the illegal immigrants are not deported.
‘Here was a government which not only discarded the original Assam line, but encouraged illegal infiltration en masse in search of vote bank politics,’ said the leader of the opposition. He added that it was illegal infiltration that was causing tension in the area and the government has not allowed identification of illegal immigrants and has formed tribunals thus resulting in concentration of immigrants.
The BJP leader further said it is not the first time that such communal tension has taken place in Assam and it is an issue that concerns the whole country and not just BJP and Congress. Jailtey added if the government continued with its clerical approach to the problem, these incidents will keep recurring.
‘If this problem gets repeated, the consequences not only on the State of Assam but also on India, as a nation, our national identity, our personality and even our geography, are going to be severe,’ said Jaitley.
SPECIAL CLASSES FOR STUDENTS IN RELIEF CAMPS FROM 16 AUG
Assam government will make arrangements to hold special classes for students in relief camps in trouble-torn BTAD and Dhubri districts where schools are scheduled to reopen on August 16, Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said On Thursday. ‘Special classes will be held for student inmates in the camps till the inmate families are rehabilitated in their homes,’ he told reporters.
Educational institutions should open by August 16 as students had suffered immensely due to the violence and classes will be held in the relief camps, which are mainly housed in schools and colleges of the affected districts, he said.
Relief camps are housed in 258 schools in BTAD, including 71 in Kokrajhar and 32 in Chirang, while there are 11 in Bongaigaon and 144 in Dhubri outside the BTAD.
Sarma, who is also the state health minister, said so far 22 people have died in relief camps in the four affected districts and 12 of them due to old age.
So far 1,42,000 people have been treated in the camps by 248 doctors, including eight from Delhi, and 50 special ambulances have been put into service to take the seriously ill to hospitals.
The health department, he said, has identified 4415 pregnant women in the camps and it has been decided to attach a nurse or shift them to a hospital 48 hours before their expected delivery dates.
There are 14,000 children between the age of 0-2 years and they have been given the necessary immunisation and provided with a kit to ensure basic hygiene.
The government has fixed three hospitals - Bongaigaon Civil Hospital, Barpeta Medical College Hospital and Gauhati Medical College Hospital - as referral centres, he added.
CBI INQUIRY STARTS, ARMY ON ALERT
A CBI inquiry into the Assam violence has been initiated and the army has been put on alert, the government told on Thursday as the opposition alleged that the region was not safe because of vote bank politics being indulged by the ruling Congress.
Replying to a debate on the issue of violence in Assam that has so far claimed 74 lives, Sushilkumar Shinde said the government was taking the issue seriously and has already initiated a CBI inquiry to ascertain the causes behind violent incidents. ‘The government is taking this issue very seriously,’ he said.
As the opposition created an uproar expressing dissatisfaction over his reply, Shinde said, ‘I have instructed the Army to be on alert. What else do you want?’ He also listed the steps taken by the government to provide relief and rehabilitation, but the opposition dismissed what he said by creating uproar.
Welcoming the CBI probe into the issue, Jaitley urged the government not to treat this as a ‘simple crime’ and not ‘miss out’ on the issues as to why such incidents have taken place.