MoS Home Hansraj Ahir slams Varun Gandhi for comments on Rohingyas

NEW DELHI: After BJP MP Varun Gandhi wrote an opinion piece contradicting his own party’s stand on deporting the Rohingya refugees, a senior minister from the Narendra Modi cabinet hit back, saying “the statement is against national interest.”
Varun, in his column for Navbharat Times , has asked the government to consider granting refugee status to the Rohingyas from Myanmar. He also said that “along with international agreements India is a signatory to, we also have the rich Indian tradition of helping refugees.”
The Sultanpur MP further suggested for a national refugee policy, which differentiates between people fleeing a country following persecution as opposed to those fleeing poverty.
His suggestion has, however, not gone down well with the ruling BJP government at the Centre.
Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said no nationalist would ever give such a statement.
“Rohingyas created trouble for Myanmar and worked against the government. If Myanmar has rejected them, why should we accept them?”Ahir said, adding that the government is using full force to stop the Rohingya from settling in India since they are a security threat.
In a bid to water down the controversy, Gandhi later clarified that he was just empathizing with Rohingyas and didn’t intend to defy party and government’s line.
“My recent piece focused primarily on defining India’s asylum policy, with clear demarcations on how we would accept refugees,” he tweeted.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Varun Gandhi has adopted different stance from the one taken by his own party in Centre.
On May 18, the scion of Nehru-Gandhi family had questioned the loan waivers to big industrial groups and lamented the reports of debt-ridden farmers resorting to suicide in several states.
Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing multiple petitions both in favor of and against deporting Rohingya Muslims, who have been fleeing Myanmar following its army’s crackdown in the Rakhine state.
Around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in India in the last five years, with most of them settling in Jammu, New Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
However, the latest exodus of the Muslim minority Rohingyas began on August 25, when the Myanmar army launched fresh offensive in Rakhine, following an attack by Rohingya rebels on multiple government posts.

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