Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Centre’s newly constituted high-level committee on “artificial” demographic changes would examine whether fresh legislation is required to tackle illegal immigration and related demographic shifts across the country.
Addressing a gathering in Gandhinagar after inaugurating and laying foundation stones for development projects worth Rs 340 crore, Shah said the committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar would submit its report within a year.
The committee was constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to examine demographic changes arising out of illegal immigration and other “unnatural causes”.
“The high-powered committee will examine the causes behind the artificial demographic shifts that have occurred across the nation. It will deliberate on the remedial measures required, and, should the enactment of any specific legislation be necessary, it will address that requirement as well,” Shah said.
The Home Minister asserted that the Centre was determined to identify and expel every “ghuspaithiya” or infiltrator from the country and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had constituted the panel with that objective.
Also read: MHA issues notification on panel for demographic changes
Launching a sharp attack on the All India Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, Shah alleged that infiltration from Bangladesh had flourished under former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
He claimed the situation had changed after the BJP came to power in the state and said fencing work along the Bangladesh border had accelerated.
Praising Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Shah said 600 hectares of land had been handed over to the Border Security Force within seven days for border fencing work. He also said 121 hectares of land in the strategically crucial Siliguri Corridor, also known as the Chicken’s Neck, had been transferred to the Centre.
Citing media reports, Shah claimed infiltrators had already started returning to Bangladesh voluntarily.
“If they leave of their own will, the Bengal government will not only refrain from filing legal cases against them, but will also extend assistance to facilitate their departure,” he said.
He added that the government hoped many illegal migrants would leave voluntarily before the launch of a formal identification drive.
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