Concerned over the influx of more than 300,000 Hindu refugees from Bangladesh into India since October, Union Home Minister L K Advani is sending his deputy Vidyasagar Rao in Kolkata later this month to assess the gravity of the situation.
West Bengal BJP President Asim Ghosh told newsmen in Kolkata on Saturday that a six-member all-party parliamentary delegation would also visit the bordering districts in the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation. A third delegation headed by senior BJP leader Saheb Singh Verma would also arrive in Kolkata later this month, under instructions from party president Jana Krishnamurthy, Mr Ghosh said.
Apart from visiting the 14 refugee camps in the state they would visit several check-posts from where the major influx of refugees took place. The influx of Bengali Hindus from across the border follows the largescale torture and other atrocities on them since the October general elections in Bangladesh.
The BJP state president lauded the sincerity of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee in resolving the issue peacefully but added that his instructions were not being heeded by the ruling party cadres who were intimidating the hapless refugees asking them to join the party or face immediate deportation.
Bureau Report