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Venkaiah Naidu changes stance on migrants Act

By Barun Das Gupta

GUWAHATI SEPT. 22. The BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, who told a party workers' conclave here on Saturday that a joint session of Parliament may be held to scrap the Illegal Migrants (Detection by Tribunals) Act, sang a different tune today.

At a press conference here, Mr. Naidu said that a joint session was only an "option, which could also be thought of as one of the measures" (for scrapping the Act), and that it required a "broad political consensus". He said he would discuss the matter with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the Defence Minister and NDA convener, George Fernandes.

The BJP, he said, would "oppose tooth and nail" the Gogoi Government's decision to form a Cabinet sub-committee under the State Health Minister, Bhumidhar Barman, to examine whether the Muslims of Assam could be given the status of backward class under the Constitution. This was nothing but "votebank politics" and went against the spirit of the Constitution. The move would only divide the people on communal lines. "An entire community cannot be declared backward class solely on the basis of its religion", Mr. Naidu added.

Later, the chief spokesperson of the Assam PCC, Sylvius Condpan, told presspersons that a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Dr. Barman had, indeed, been set up, as a section of Muslims had been making the demand for quite some time and a popular Government had to take note of the people's urges and aspirations.

Mr. Condpan ridiculed the BJP leaders' assertion that the people would never allow the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to become Prime Minister. He said that when she took over the presidentship, the party was ruling only three or four States. But now, under her leadership, the party was ruling 14 States including Assam.

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