State BJP blames Govt for shirking responsibility
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 31 2014:
The State Government, instead of enacting an appropriate legislation to check influx of foreigners who cross into Manipur in the garb of Indian citizens, has been dilly-dallying the issue of Inner Line Permit System for the past 10 years, asserted the BJP Manipur unit.
Speaking to media persons at their office today, BJP State unit president Th Chaoba blamed the State Government for not taking up a single concrete step to check influx of outsiders.
Even though there has been incessant influx of foreigners like Bangladeshis, Myanmarese and Nepalese into Manipur from different directions, these foreign nationals are barred from entering Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh because they have appropriate legislations to check unlawful immigrations.
It's long overdue for the Government of Manipur to enact a similar legislation in order to check influx of immigrants.
After this, the State Government may urge the Centre for amendment of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873 to pave way for enforcement of ILPS in Manipur, Chaoba asserted.
Referring to the Chief Minister O Ibobi's call to urge the Government of India collectively for enforcement of ILPS in Manipur as the ILPS is the prerogative of the Government of India, Th Chaoba remarked that the Chief Minister's statement was vague.
Noting that all the two resolutions adopted by the State Assembly were in the form of private member resolutions, Chaoba pointed out that the resolutions were not tabled by the Congress Government after deliberation in any Cabinet meeting.
The State Government should make public the contents of the forwarding letters it sent to the Centre together with the Assembly resolutions adopted in favour of implementing ILPS in the State.
The then Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's comment, "Anybody who believes in Indian Constitution should not pass this Bill" frightened the Chief Minister as well as the MLAs as if they were working against the Constitution.
Through this comment, the Union Home Minister made a mockery of the Assembly resolution.
It also reflected how serious was the Congress Government on the issue of ILPS.
Given the small size of the Manipur valley, the State need to enact a law which prohibits all outsiders from purchasing land larger than a specific area otherwise Manipur valley can end up being a fiefdom of some super-rich outsiders, Chaoba cautioned.