Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has come down hard on the issue of illegal immigrants. Throwing political correctness to the winds, he was unequivocal in his criticism of the illegal migrants and the havoc they wreak on otherwise peaceful locations. Coming out in open support of the National Register for Citizens, which was launched in Assam, the Army Chief has said it clear – those who enter our country illegally need to be deported.
In an interview with Times Now, General Rawat is quoted to have said, ‘If they are illegal, they need to be deported. If they are legal, they need to be amalgamated. But then the amalgamation must happen in a manner that benefits everybody. Let it not go the political way.”
General Rawat further added, “There are some organizations which have amalgamated them into the system. There are others who have come in illegally who do not have the citizenship, but there are some people who are trying to get them the citizenship.”
General Rawat spoke up in favour of his army men, criticizing those who accused the soldiers fighting in Kashmir of human rights violations at the drop of a hat. He said, “……The time has come to probe these people who file false cases against soldiers with intent to malign the institution…” His reference was clearly towards the likes of left liberals like Arundhati Roy, Kavitha Krishnan etc., who had hounded the Indian Army time and again, especially as in the case of controversial army man, Major Nitin L. Gogoi.
Citing the example of the time when he was in Eastern Command, he added, “ The case was that one of the terrorists had been killed by our unit and his body was missing. We started the probe and found that the lad was alive. They closed the case, but what about the person who made the allegation? Should that not be investigated?”
When asked if Army has been strict in case of ‘staged encounters, General Rawat said without fear, “……Where we felt encounters, I won’t say were fake, but could have been better conducted, we have punished people….”
This is not the first time that General Rawat has spoken up about the illegal immigration or their sympathizers. Earlier in February, he had voiced his concern about the illegal immigration allegedly sponsored by AIUDF, which was rising extremely fast on a political note, thanks to the illegal immigration. Though he said in a concerned tone, he was mocked by left liberals and even labeled as ‘BJP’s agent’ by some.
To be honest, the Army Chief has voiced his opinion at an extremely right moment. As the Central government is grappling with the menace of illegal immigrants like Rohingyas, who have proven to be extremely hostile towards the native communities, such statements by the Army Chief simply prove that the concerned forces are in no mood to mollycoddle such people with kid gloves, but will rather deal with them firmly.
Even though the process to deport such illegal immigrants has already begun, we hope that the words of the Army Chief inspire the concerned forces to accelerate the process.
