A motion moved by leader of opposition L.K. Advani on the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh in the north-east was rejected by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha tonight.Intervening in the debate, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the fencing of the country’s long and porous border with Bangladesh - aimed at checking infiltration - would be complete by next year. Along side, security will be beefed up and multi-purpose identity cards issued to people living in border areas. The government is in the process of floating border outposts in riverine areas also, he added.Patil said the government was considering a proposal to step up BSF deployment from one battalion for every 70 km to one for every 30 km. However, it would be ensured that genuine citizens were not put to any difficulty.The Home Minister decried the opposition attempt to instill what he called a fear psychosis on the issue. The use of this issue for votebank politics would be harmful, he added.Earlier, moving the motion, Advani said illegal immigration was the ‘‘biggest disaster’’ and the ‘‘biggest threat to national security.’’ He said the UPA government was trying to bring IMDT Act back in a different form to perpetuate its votebank politics. ‘‘I would like to caution this government against any such move,’’ he added. Asking the government to accept the SC judgment striking down the Act gracefully, he wondered why had the Centre set up a group of ministers on the issue.Describing the SC decision quashing IMDT Act ‘‘historic’’, he said it was a victory for people of Assam. He quoted Indrajit Gupta as having told Parliament, as Home Minister (in 1996-98), that one crore people from Bangladesh were residing illegally in India.Quoting the judgment, Advani said the presence of such a large number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, is an aggression on Assam.Advani was heard calmly and his eloquence was well matched by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who spoke immediately after him. He said, ‘‘We have a right to disagree with the Supreme Court by passing another law — what is wrong with it?’’ He said the judgment was operational, but there was nothing wrong with the formation of the GoM.Mukherjee said the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, for identifying illegal immigrants was laid under an agreement between then Bangladesh president Mujib-ur-Rehman and the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.He said out of 3.68 lakh cases handled by IMDT tribunals, only over 11,000 persons were detected as foreigners and deported, while under the Foreigners’ Act, over 28,000 of the 5.17 lakh persons were declared foreigners. ‘‘Even if we find 10 million illegal immigrants, would it be possible to throw them out of the country?" he askedBasudeb Acharia (CPI-M) charged Advani with practising vote-bank politics with his ‘‘rath-yatra.’’ SP member Mohan Singh sought a new legislation to deal with the situation created by the SC decision.Union Minister of State Kapil Sibal said the SC had not looked into the effects if extraditions took place under the Foreigners Act.
