The BJP’s vision document for the Delhi elections has raised a hornet’s nest. It referred to people from the North East living in Delhi as immigrants. True, the document details steps for the welfare of these people. But according to the Oxford Dictionary, immigrant means foreigners living in a particular area. The Aam Aadmi Party is cashing in on it. The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju has clarified the BJP’s stand saying that it must be a typing error. It is a lame excuse for it is not clear what was to be typed in its place. It also betrays the rank inefficiency of the BJP’s organizational machinery. What is very unfortunate is that most BJP leaders belong to the upper caste with a distorted mindset. It is all the more damaging in view of the atrocities on the North Eastern people in Delhi, especially the murder of Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh which led to the Bezbaruah Committee recommendations for the protection of such people in Delhi and elsewhere.
The controversy has come as a major embarrassment to the BJP’s Assam unit ahead of the civic polls in the state. Krishan Mukti Sangram Samiti activists have refused to accept the BJP’s explanation. It has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the resignation of Kiren Rijiju. The Youth Wing of the AGP has taken to the streets. The AASU has also joined the agitation. The setback has aggravated the crisis caused by the BJP’s turnaround on the Bangla land-swap issue . The Arunachal Civil Society has said that it will encourage China to stake a claim to Arunachal. CPI(M) Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar has regretted the mistake and the CPI secretariat in Imphal has seen in it the BJP’s hidden agenda of discrimination against the North Eastern people. Prime Minister Modi is in deep trouble over what may be a costly typographical error.