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In a clear attempt to woo the large migrants' vote bank in Assam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday mooted issuance of "work permits" to those who have crossed over into Assam and West Bengal illegally.
In what is being seen as a neat balancing act, Vajpayee, addressing a mammoth election rally at Silchar in southern Assam's Barak Valley, hinted at a possible shift in the Centre's policy on Bangladesh infiltration.
According to Union Home Ministry's official estimates there are nearly 4 million illegal Bangladeshis in Assam and over 5 million in the neighbouring West Bengal.
Admitting that deporting illegal migrants was next to impossible, the prime minister said the Centre was considering a proposal to issue work permits to identified foreigners.
Vajpayee, on a two-day campaign tour of the state, said under the work permit system the names of infiltrators from Bangladesh would be incorporated into a register following a thorough screening.
These people would be allowed to stay in India until the confusion surrounding the withdrawal of the Illegal Migrants' (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983, known widely as IM (DT) Act, was sorted out.
The controversial IM (DT) Act is applicable only in Assam for detection and deportation of foreigners. Elsewhere in the country, the Foreigners Act, 1946 is used for the purpose.
Under the IM (DT), the onus of proving a person to be an illegal migrant is on the complainant whereas under the Foreigners Act, this responsibility lies with the accused.
Experts have time and again pointed out that because of the IM (DT) Act, very few aliens have been deported from Assam. The Congress, aware of its appeal among the minorities, has steadfastly refused to cooperate in attempts to repeal the Act.
Assam Governor Lt. Gen. (retd) S K Sinha had submitted a report on illegal migration to the President in 1998, which had mooted, among other things, issuance of multi-purpose photo-identity cards in the districts bordering Bangladesh, registration of births and deaths and maintenance of a separate register of stateless citizens.
The report had said that those identified as illegal migrants should be allowed to stay in the country as stateless citizens without voting rights or the right to acquire immovable property.
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