Varun Gandhi counters Modi govt, says don't deport Rohingya Muslims

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi's appeal to provide shelter to the “illegal” Rohingya Muslim refugees residing in India, hasn't gone down well with the government, with Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir saying, national interest should come first.

Gandhi, in an opinion piece published in a Hindi daily, called for not deporting Rohingyas from India, saying that the country should continue to provide them shelter.

In his article, the BJP MP urged the government to look back into India's rich history of helping the refugees and help the Rohingyas.

As the Member of Parliament from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh came under severe criticism, he took to Twitter to express his views on his article.

“As for the Rohingyas, I've called for empathy, leading potentially to asylum, while vetting each applicant for national security concerns,” Gandhi tweeted.

“My recent piece focused primarily on defining India's asylum policy, with clear demarcations on how we would accept refugees,” his anotehr tweet said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had last week reiterated that government is firm in its decision to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar.

The Centre has urged the Supreme Court not to interfere in the Rohingya issue as the move to deport them was a policy decision in the country's larger interests and that some of them were linked to Pakistani spy agency ISI and other terrorist groups.

The government had informed the Parliament on August 9 that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India.

However, some inputs indicate that around 40,000 undocumented Rohingyas were staying in India, mostly in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan regions.

As for the Rohingyas, I've called for empathy, leading potentially to asylum, while vetting each applicant for national security concerns.

— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) September 26, 2017

My recent piece focused primarily on defining India's asylum policy, with clear demarcations on how we would accept refugees.

— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) September 26, 2017

My article in NavBharat Times today. #RohingyaCrisis pic.twitter.com/XNMEchcDqs

— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) September 26, 2017