Jamshedpur, India (BBN)-Days after sparking controversy with comments about death sentence for rape convicts and Kargil martyrs, Samajwadi Party's Jamshedpur unit came up with a bizarre solution to illegal immigration of people from Bangladesh to India. The party believes that massive economic investments in Bangladesh will lead to greater job opportunities for youths in the neighbouring country and they will eventually stop crossing over to the Indian border for livelihood, reports The Times of India.
The local election manifesto of the SP released here on Friday says: "The likes of Tatas, Ambanis and Birlas should take a call on the infiltration issue and start investing in Bangladesh so that a higher number of jobs are available to the people there. This will stop instances of infiltration on our eastern border gradually."
Political observers said that the party mentioned illegal immigration from Bangladeshi in its manifesto keeping the demography of the Jamshedpur constituency in mind.
Many people in the constituency believe that a chunk of voters in the minority-dominated pockets of the constituency are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, who over the years managed to secure various government documents identifying them as Indian nationals.
"Infiltration is primarily born out of the lack of jobs and other viable livelihood opportunities in Bangladesh. Therefore, if our business companies invest heavily in Bangladesh, the issue will be addressed to a great extent," said D G Raja, who is contesting from the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency on an SP ticket.
The party further asked business bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), to take a call on the issue and mobilize business houses to invest in Bangladesh in the larger interest of India.
Manohar Yadav, state unit president of the party, was present at the manifesto release programme.
Calling upon the government to identify illegal immigrants as "guests", the SP leaders asked the government to issue "Bangladeshi guest" identity cards to all illegal immigrants and embark on a long-term exercise for their repatriation.
"The growing sense of threat to internal security from increasing infiltration could only be dealt with through a comprehensive approach to the issue," said Raja, who is also the party's state spokesman.
BBN/ANS/AD/13Apr14-2:00 pm (BST)