Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday pitched for granting appropriate status on humanitarian grounds to migrants of Indian origin, who had left the country during partition, but want to return following persecution or other such problems in their adopted nations.
“The case of such migrants, who want to return to their ancestral homeland India and have a valid reason for wanting so must be considered on humanitarian grounds,” he said, addressing a press conference here.
The Chief Minister had placed the matter before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his day-long visit to Guwahati last week.
“The matter was in our party (Congress) manifesto for last year’s Assembly elections and we are now taking it up at the government level,” Mr Gogoi added.
Elaborating his proposal, the Chief Minister said people of Indian origin, who had chosen to leave the country during partition but are facing harassment in the adopted nation and want to return will be dealt with under this new provision.
“The appellant must have valid grounds of wanting to return to India and frivolous reasons must not be entertained,” he said.
He, however, refrained from suggesting whether full citizenship should be granted in such cases or special status should be accorded and what provisions would be taken to determine the validity of a case.
“We have just made the proposal to the Prime Minister. It would be valid for the entire country and lot of debate and deliberation would be needed before it takes a final shape,” Mr Gogoi added.
He said, “Infiltration is taking place even now. The new provision will not deal with illegal infiltrators, but take up genuine appeals only.” (UNI)