Ghuspetia Politics Ignites Bihar: BJP, Oppn Trade Barbs Over Infiltration

India Today

The political battle over alleged infiltration in Bihar's Seemanchal region intensifies, with BJP's Zafar Islam and Congress's Anshul Avijit clashing over the issue. Congress spokesperson Anshul Avijit sharply counters the BJP's narrative, stating, 'this word, ghuspetia, is a self-proclamation of their incompetence and ineptness, if nothing else.' The debate explores the BJP's promise to deport illegal immigrants, while the opposition accuses the 'double-engined' government of failing to act for years. A JDU leader from Katihar points to historical demographic shifts in the Seemanchal area. Adding a crucial layer, a former Joint Director of the Election Commission, Mohammed Amin, clarifies that the electoral roll purification process identifies suspected foreign voters and the details are confidentially reported to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further action.

Transcript

00:00Zafar Islam, I'd like to begin with you, taking off from one of the points that one of those

00:03youngsters made with Gaurav in his ground report, where they say that if the BJP is

00:09in power in the centre, if they are in power in the state, and you have the Prime Minister,

00:13the Home Minister speaking of infiltration, why didn't the government, the double-engine

00:17government of Bihar and centre, do something about it and stop it?

00:23See, that's what we are doing.

00:24From day one, we are trying to ensure that the people who have come from outside illegally,

00:32they are not citizens of the country, should be leaving this country and they should be

00:39deported as soon as possible.

00:42This is something which we are very vocal about, we have spoken about it, and we are very clear

00:47that no illegal immigrant should be there in our country.

00:52There are people who are leaving for ages, they are not our nation, they are illegally

00:57staying here.

00:58But that is something which other government has not done, but we have made a promise,

01:03we are working towards that, and we have, we did bring a lot of legislation and also initiative

01:08we have undertaken to ensure that those illegal immigrants should not be part of our nation

01:14and should not be our citizen, illegally they have become.

01:17That is why when SIR exercise had started, many people who were not a citizen, they didn't

01:27come to show their report, their card, their documents, because they knew that they cannot

01:33prove that they are citizens.

01:34That's why they may have gone to some other states like West Bengal.

01:38So SIR exercise across the country, once it will happen, you will ensure, you will see

01:43that there are many immigrants who illegally have come, they are Ghospatias, and that is

01:49why they will be identified.

01:50So Dr. Zafir Islam, you know, the SIR process of course has kicked off in states like West Bengal

01:55that you are referring to.

01:57You are referring to the SIR process, but as far as the government goes, are you then conceding

02:01that the government in Bihar has failed to crack down on infiltrators?

02:06See, you cannot make this kind of statement that who has failed, who has not failed.

02:13They are there, this process was there for ages, and that is Congress was always supporting

02:18that, RJD was supporting, but now there has to be some method of madness to ensure that

02:24that practice should stop.

02:26And that is why this SIR exercise that various other legislation which has been put in place

02:31will ensure, like for instance, SIR, there are people who have identified, they are illegal

02:36citizens, they are staying illegally in the country, they have identified, I am telling

02:41you again repeating, they have been identified.

02:44It has nothing to do with religion, it has nothing to do with any other concentration except

02:50they are illegal immigrants.

02:51But we don't have that number.

02:53And they, as I said, they have been identified, they will be deported.

02:58First objective was to identify, and you will soon see, you will soon see that they will

03:05be deported soon.

03:06So, it is an exercise which is to ensure that the youth of this country should not suffer,

03:12the citizen of this country should not suffer, the resources of this country is meant for

03:16the citizen of this country, not for illegal immigrants.

03:19We have nothing against anyone.

03:21Okay.

03:22Except those who are staying here illegally, and they should be deported.

03:25Instead, anybody, if you have any problem, they must speak about it.

03:29Let me bring in Anshul Avajit, National Spokesperson of the Congress.

03:33Anshul, the BJP, and you've heard Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah repeatedly say this,

03:37that the RGD and Congress are protecting infiltrators.

03:41No, you know, Akshita, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind what the singular reason for forcing this word

03:51ghospatia in the electoral lexicon of Bihar is.

03:54There's just one reason.

03:56I mean, this red herring was tried in Jharkhand as well.

03:59I was there throughout the election.

04:00They repeatedly said it.

04:01They got egg on their face.

04:02They faced a massive defeat.

04:04This is the same reason why the word Pakistan has also been brought in by a very senior minister who is a serial offender in this case.

04:12It is to divide the people of Bihar on communal grounds.

04:17Now, you're absolutely right.

04:19Gaurav asked the right question, and so did you.

04:21I mean, if the BJP, leave aside my argument, if the BJP had the noblest of intentions and the purity of mind, of feeling,

04:31in trying to tackle the problem of illegal infiltrators, then what were they doing for the last 11 years?

04:38I mean, they had a government in Bihar, a joint government in Bihar, a coalition for the better part of 20 years.

04:46They had enough time to get rid of this issue, as they call it.

04:50But they've been completely inept in doing that.

04:53In fact, this word, guspatia, is a self-proclamation of their incompetence and ineptness, if nothing else.

05:01Right?

05:01Now, the SIR report, Akshita, to bring home that point, makes no mention of guspatia.

05:07I mean, there have been 47 lakh deletions, I believe.

05:10In fact, it's very opaque.

05:12It does not mention what is the nature of the deletions.

05:15How many people were removed from the SIR deletion list because of lack of documentary evidence,

05:22that they couldn't supply that evidence?

05:24Maybe they were guspatias, maybe not.

05:26When is that list going to come out?

05:28When has the Home Ministry released a list of how many people have been deported?

05:32I don't have that list.

05:33I don't know.

05:34Is there a white paper on it?

05:36We took action against, in fact, this kind of illegal infiltration when the UPA is in power.

05:41So, let's set the record straight on that, considering this is constantly the allegation

05:47that's hurled at the Congress and the RGD.

05:49Anshul Abhijit, is the RGD and Congress protecting infiltrators?

05:54Can that be possible?

05:56It is the job of the Home Ministry to find out who the infiltrators are.

06:00I mean, they cannot abdicate from their responsibility like the Election Commission is doing here.

06:05The Election Commission is making the whole process so exclusionary.

06:08And completely abdicating, putting the owners...

06:11Okay, okay.

06:12I'm going to come back to you, Anshul.

06:13We're having a bit of a problem with your audio.

06:15I'll bring in Dr. Sanjay Kumar also on this of the JDU.

06:18Dr. Sanjay Kumar, the constant question that will come up from the RGD and Congress

06:21is that if infiltration is such a big issue in Simanchal, why was nothing done about it?

06:29Thank you, Akshita.

06:29I think, you know, I am joining from Katihar, one of the Simanchal districts.

06:35And since my childhood, what I have seen around Katihar and in the entire Simanchal

06:41is that Congress always encouraged people to come in and settle down in this area.

06:46So, the demographic change, shift happened in this area dramatically in the last 25-30 years.

06:54And, you know, it happens in a very subtle manner, you know, that, you know, it is not

07:02so obvious.

07:03But, you know, within, you know, last 25-30 years, I have seen so many changes.

07:09And today also, I was asking one of the drivers that, you know, from where did you come?

07:15When did you come?

07:16So, he said that my grandfather came here and they came from Murshidabad.

07:21So, a lot of people came from Murshidabad side and they are called Sirsavadi here.

07:26And, you know, Murshidabad is the border district in West Bengal, you know, very close to Bangladesh.

07:33And if you go to Murshidabad, if you go to West Bengal, a lot of things, a lot of people

07:39move morning to evening, you know, they come this side during the daytime, they work here

07:45and then they go back.

07:46And a lot of people also stay back.

07:48So, you know, this has been happening.

07:50But it's unchecked then.

07:51What you're telling me, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, is extremely concerning and worrying.

07:54It's unchecked, that means.

07:55Yeah, so, I think now the setting up of national demographic mission, I think, you know, government

08:05was probably looking for the apt, you know, vehicle or the platform to address this issue.

08:13It's a larger issue.

08:14It's not a very small issue.

08:15It's not only in Simulshan region.

08:17Now, you know, people may be in other parts of the country.

08:21You know, so we don't know yet.

08:22So, I think this is a task of national demographic mission, which has been set up by the Prime

08:26Minister.

08:27And I think we are going to address this issue, you know, and this is a serious issue in this

08:32part of the region and other parts of the country.

08:35Okay.

08:36I want to bring in Mohamed Amin, who is a former Joint Director of the Election Commission.

08:41Mr. Amin, a question that constantly also comes up here in the course of what's happened

08:45is a lot of focus on the SIR exercise.

08:48But why we don't have that specific data of how many of these foreigners were really

08:53identified or weeded out?

08:57Prachita, the responsibility of the Election Commission to register the national voters.

09:04And so many times the opposition and other parties have raised the question against the

09:09Election Commission that we have given the edge to the ruling party.

09:14And so many voters have deleted from the opposition parties and we supported the BJP party.

09:21But it's not fair.

09:23Actually, the Election Commission is a constitutional body.

09:26We never take any favor or do any favor to any stakeholders.

09:31All are the equal stakeholders in the country for the Election Commission doing this process

09:37for the election.

09:38So that's why the Election Commission has decided.

09:41So there's a long time period after we have decided Election Commission that we can start

09:46the SIR process.

09:47So SIR process means purify the electoral role.

09:51Electoral role, so we have to delete the dead voters, foreign voters, if they are registered

09:57in that last vote.

09:58But can we ever, Mr. Amin, can we ever expect a breakdown of what you're referring to?

10:03Pardon?

10:04Can we ever expect a breakdown of what you're referring to, of what the SIR exercise has

10:08succeeded in doing, how many of these foreigners have actually been identified and removed?

10:12Yeah, yeah, yeah.

10:13This is the confidential matter, madam.

10:15And this is done by our BLOs, AIROs and District Election Officers.

10:21If they have got these fake voters or any foreign voters registered in this country, they are

10:27identified and confidentially they have given report to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

10:33This is the matter of the Ministry of Home Affairs to decide.

10:37So they can live here in India or they can, illegal immigrant, they can deport from country.

10:44And this is the matter of the Foreign Ministry and the Home Ministry.

10:47So this is not a matter of the Election Commission of India.

10:49So the Election Commission of India having their SIR process regularly, not from today,

10:562002, 2003, 2004.

10:59So every 10 years minimum, we can have the SIR process.

11:03So if any illegal immigrant from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, these are the surrounding

11:10borders of Bihar and Bangladesh, West Bengal.

11:14So we have to identify and confidentially we can submit to the report to the Ministry of

11:21Home Affairs.

11:21It is a matter of the Home Minister.

11:23They have to decide it.

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