Only Indians will stay in India: Rajth

*    Assam Accord to be fully implemented, assures Centre

*    Home Minister to visit Indo-Bangla border this month

From a Correspondent

New Delhi, August 11: Union Home Minister Rajth Singh on Tuesday said that the Centre will do everything possible for full implementation of the Assam Accord, even as he decided to visit the Indo-Bangla border by end of this month to take stock of the ground situation along the border.

Addressing a semir in New Delhi on 30 years of Assam Accord: Issues, Challenges and Implementation, Singh said that his government wants to completely seal the Indo-Bangla border as illegal immigrants remain a matter of serious concern.

“I will visit the Indo-Bangladesh border soon, probably within this month. I want to see the situation along the border as we are committed to check illegal migration…we want to take all possible steps to check illegal migration,” he said.

Asserting that tiol Register of Citizens (NRC) update will be a very big help in protecting Indian citizens, Singh pointed out that updating the NRC in Assam is being done under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court.

Justifying AASU’s demand for detection and deportation of illegal immigrants from Assam, the Home Minister, however, made it clear that genuine Indians will not be harassed. “Whoever is Indian, will remain in India,” he said. The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between the then Central and State government along with the influential All Assam Students Union (AASU), ending a 6-years long vigorous anti foreigners movement.

Paying tributes to the martyrs of the Assam agitation, Singh said that he knows about all the genuine demands of AASU. “I can assure you that only Indians will stay in India. We should know what steps should be taken to protect the rights of the indigenous people without leaving any loopholes,” he said.

The Home Minister said that discussions will be held with the AASU to find out the shortcomings in the Assam Accord that are preventing its full implementation.

Expressing concern on the issue of illegal migrants, AASU president Dipanka Kumar th rued, “It is unfortute that even after 30 years of the accord, it has not been effectively implemented…the gravity of the problem of infiltration has increased, detection and deportation of illegal foreigners never happened in the  manner it should have been.”

The semir was also attended by Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sarbanda Sonowal, AASU advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya, Dibrugarh University Vice-chancellor Alak K Buragohain among others.