"Half Truths": AAP vs Centre Over Illegal Rohingya Migrants In Delhi

Ahead of the assembly election scheduled early next year, Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP have got themselves tangled in a new brawl, this time over the issue of illegal Rohingya living in the national capital.

Chief Minister Atishi in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah alleged the Centre allowed numerous Rohingya to settle down in the city without telling the Delhi government.

"The BJP-led central government has settled a large number of illegal migrant Rohingya refugees in different parts of Delhi by keeping the people and the government of Delhi in the dark," Atishi said in the letter. She posted a copy on X.

To add firepower to her allegations, she cited old social media posts by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, one of which says, "India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision, all Rohingya refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in Delhi's Bakkarwala."

Mr Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, in a strong counterattack said Mr Kejriwal's AAP is continuing to "play its politics of diversion, false narratives and half truths."

"... Facts and actual positions on illegal Rohingya migrants were immediately clarified through a tweet on the same day which they selectively chose to ignore, and continue to do... No Rohingya migrant has been given a government house in Delhi. In fact, contrary to the drummed up AAP rhetoric, they (Mr Kejriwal's party) are actually the ones who play host to illegal Rohingya in Delhi, have settled them in large numbers, given them electricity and water, and even pay Rs 10,000," Mr Puri said.

The Union Minister pressed on the attack, alluding to the arrests of AAP leaders including Mr Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the Delhi liquor policy case.

"It will also help if they [AAP] state their position on the scams which landed them in jail, Sheesh Mahal, their refusal to pay the state share in RRTS and Phase 4 of Delhi Metro in order to stall the projects and the delay caused to the PM-UDAY Scheme till we went ahead on our own with it to offer ownership rights to people living in hitherto unauthorised colonies of Delhi," Mr Puri said.

He said the Delhi government did not pay its share for several other infrastructure projects.

"Will also like to remind them about several other infrastructure projects for which Delhi government did not pay its share but which were eventually completed by the Centre which bore the entire cost - Skywalk at ITO, Rani Jhansi Road grade separator and flyover-cum-underpass at Mahipalpur," the Union Minister said.

In August 2017, armed attacks, large-scale violence, and human rights violations forced thousands of Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Many walked for days through jungles and undertook sea journeys across the Bay of Bengal to reach safety in Bangladesh, from where many of them crossed into India.

Nearly one million Rohingya are living in Bangladesh, with a majority living in Cox Bazar's region - home to the world's largest refugee camp.