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Walkout in Parliament over Maharashtra deportation issue

Almost the entire non-Congress Opposition parties staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid uproarious scenes in protest against the Maharashtra government's act of evicting Muslims from Bombay under the garb of deporting Bangladeshis even as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana maintained there will be no let up in the operation against foreigners.

Describing the government's response as "typically fascist," CPI-M leader Somnath Chatterjee led his party members out of the House. Members belonging to the CPI, Janata Dal, Muslim League and Samajwadi Party followed suit.

Tempers ran high throughout the brief debate on the issue during Zero Hour and at one stage slogan shouting Opposition members stormed into the well protesting against certain remarks made by the BJP member from Thane. The members resumed their seats after an assurance by Speaker G M C Balayogi that the member would withdraw the offending remark.

The member, Prakash Paranjpye, however, maintained that he did not make any unparliamentary remark.

In his brief intervention, Khurana made it clear there will no let up in the operations against foreigners but the government would take steps to ensure no Indian citizen is harassed. He also assured agitated members that Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani would make a detailed statement in the House soon on the issue. Not satisfied with his reply the non-Congress Opposition trooped out of the House.

Khurana said the government would initiate strong measures to track down infiltrators and deport them. The P V Narasimha Rao government had admitted the presence of 400,000 Bangladeshis in the national capital alone, he said.

Raising the issue, leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar accused the BJP-Shiv Sena government of using the operation as a cover to evict Muslims from Bombay. The Sena had carried on a violent movement against South Indians in the past, Pawar said, adding that such a government should not be allowed to continue in Maharashtra.

Chatterjee said the Bengali 'deportees' were chained and forcibly led into trains leaving the town. He had evidence that most of the 40 people deported recently were Indian citizens from Hooghly district in West Bengal. The Marxist MP said he would not demand the dismissal of the BJP-Shiv Sena government, adding that the people of Maharashtra would throw them into the Arabian Sea.

Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress) demanded that Advani make a statement on the operation taking place in Bombay and said Indian citizens belonging to any part of the country should not be harassed.

Madhukar Sarpotdar (Shiv Sena) described the charges of deportation of Muslims from Bombay as wild allegations and said they were intended to malign their government in Maharashtra.

UNI

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