Govt ready to frame law to help refugees: Amit Shah

Proposed law seeks to aid genuine refugees seeking a new life in India; illegal immigrants to be kept out

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre is ready to frame law to aid refugees, especially those from Bangladesh, to overcome the difficulties they face in India. However, the proposed legislation will not cover the illegal immigrants and miscreants who are crossing the border.

This was disclosed by BJP president Amit Shah here on Tuesday. “We want to help the refugees and if needed, we'll come up with a Bill in Parliament at the right moment.”

Accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal of harbouring illegal immigrants for vote-bank politics, Shah said the law and order situation in the state has become more severe than it was during the 34-year long Left Front rule.

“Under the Left Front, factories had been shut down, but under the Trinamool's rule, bomb-making factories have become widespread,” he alleged. In October 2014, two suspected militants — Shakil Ahmed and Sovan Mandal – were killed and another person, Hasan Saheb, was injured in an explosion in the Burdwan district, allegedly while making a bomb. While the case was thereafter taken up by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), involvement of some Bangladeshi nationals came into the limelight. In recent incidents, two people lost their lives as crude bombs went off in Murshidabad and Nadia districts in the state.

“Under (West Bengal chief minister) Mamata Banerjee's rule, the immigrants situation is more severe than before as she is viewing it as a vote bank,” said Shah.

Asking the people in the state to give the BJP a chance to form government in the forthcoming Assembly election scheduled in April-May this year, Shah ruled out any pre-poll or post-poll alliance, either with the Left Front or its estwhile ally - the Trinamool Congress.

"There cannot be any alliance with the Left Front, the Trinamool or the illegal immigrants", he added.

On the issue of the Pakistani team coming over to India to investigate select parts of the Pathankot air base, which was recently hit by terrorists, Amit Shah said, "This is the first time Pakistan has shown serious efforts on its part to investigate".

In a first of its kind incident, Pakistani intelligence and police officials in Indian soil are probing alleged involvement of Pakistani militants in the attack on the air base which left seven soldiers dead.