Nalbari (Assam): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on an election tour to Assam, assured minorities that they have nothing to fear after the repeal of the IMDT Act.
"The IMDT Act may have been repealed but the minorities should not be afraid because we are committed to ensuring that no genuine Indian citizens are harassed in the process of solving the infiltration problem," the Prime Minister told an election rally at the Nalbari College.
An amendment to the Foreigners' Act has been brought about to ensure that no citizen is harassed in the process of detection, he said.
He also added that no infiltration of Bangladeshis into Assam, will be tolerated.
"People of Assam have my assurance that when it comes to infiltration, we will show no mercy to those who want to infiltrate illegally. At the same time, all genuine citizens of the state must have the assurance that in the name of detection of foreigners, they will not be harrassed," the PM said.
Declaring that there would be no compromise on the issue of infiltration, Prime Minister said the Centre would accelerate the peace process in Assam but ruled out talks on sovereignty.
He added that to stop infiltration border fencing has been strengthened so that no Bangladeshi can enter the state.
But that is ironic because lakhs of illegal settlers are already present in Assam and the recent amendments in the Foreigners' Act brought by the UPA governemet is being seen by the Opposition as a means to appease the minorities.
The Prime Minister also said the government is willing to sort out the ULFA problem by dialogue provided they give up arms.
"Our doors for discussion and dialogue are open to all those who shun violence. I've often said that to all those misguided youth who've strayed away - you don't have to have recourse to the gun when you have a prime minister in Delhi to look after the interests of Assam."
He accused the BJP of indulging in communal politics which, he said, has led to communal hatred adding that Congress was the only party that could establish peace in the state.
"The hand of the Congress is the hand of peace," he added.
Referring to the flood problem in Assam, the Prime Minister said that it was a major problem and to solve it all ivers of the North East must be harnessed.
"To deal with the problem, the UPA government has set up the North East Water Resources Authority which will control floods and also ensure optimum utilisation of water resources," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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