Weak, fickle politicans costing Indian sovereignty: Jaitley
New Delhi, Aug 1 : Indias sovereignty is paying a heavy price because of the quality of its political discourse, wielded by "fickle minds and fragile hands" on the issue of illegal migration in north-eastern states, said Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday.
In a blog written on the National Register of Citizen (NRC), Jaitley argued that political parties opposing the NRC in Assam are going back on their earlier position, when they favoured laws designed to weed out illegal migrants. He expressed concerns over their growing number in the region.
"India's sovereignty is paying a heavy price because of the quality of its political discourse. Though Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Mr. Rajiv Gandhi took a particular position in 1972 and 1985 for the deletion and deportation of foreigners, Rahul Gandhi takes a contrary position and his party turns turtle.
"Similarly, the BJP ally of 2005, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, took a particular position. As a federal front leader, she now talks to the contrary. Can India's sovereignty be decided by such fickle minds and fragile hands?," the leader wrote in a blog shared on his Facebook page.
Jaitley's words came following disruption in Rajya Sabha earlier in the day. The House had to be adjourned following ruckus by opposition parties when BJP President Amit Shah stood up to speak on NRC.
He pointed out in his article that two of India's Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, had "committed to the nation that post March 25, 1971 migrants would be detected, identified and deported" as per the definition of such people, which came to be defined in Assam Accords signed in 1984 by Rajiv Gandhi.
To bolster his argument against illegal migrants, Jaitley cited statements made by former premiers of Pakistan and Bangladesh, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, which showed them harbouring intention of annexing Assam or West Bengal to either of the two countries.
Training his guns further at Congress, he termed it as a party which has moved from mainstream to a "fringe position" and is now "compromising the sovereignty of India".
"Leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee must realise that India's sovereignty is not a play thing. Sovereignty and citizenship are the soul of India. Imported vote banks are not," he said.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
