PM assures protection to north east people
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said miscreants spreading rumours that have led to people belonging to northeast flee from Bangalore, Pune and other parts of the country, should be brought to book.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, the prime minister said: “It is our obligation to protect the people of northeast. The government will discharge its duty to the best of its ability so that a feeling of insecurity among people of northeast is brought under control.”
“Such acts are most reprehensible. The unity and integrity of India is being threatened by some elements,” the prime minister said as members discussed the issue of thousands of people from the northeast fleeing places like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune after rumours that they would be attacked.
“Whatever may have happened in Kokrajhar (in Assam) should not be used as an excuse to fan rumours. The government will create a feeling of security among people of northeast in any and every part of the country,” he said.
Leaders of several political parties, including Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Yogi Adityanath and Sushma Swaraj, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav and Communist Party of India-Marxist’s Basudev Acharia, submitted motion for suspension of the question hour to take uop the northeast migrants’ issue.
Speaker Meira Kumar rejected the demand but allowed the members to speak on the issue.
“The government should create a helpline for students, deploy police around hostels and shopping malls. The house should pass a resolution to assure the northeastern students that the government and parliament will protect them,” Sushma Swaraj said.
