Made Mistake, But Don't Play it up: PM Modi on 'Immigrants' Goof-up

A day after the BJP drew flak over the error in its vision document - which referred to people from the northeast as "immigrants" - Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised what he said were attempts to rake up the issue for political mileage in the Delhi assembly polls.

"Attempts are being made to provoke people from the northeast... a mistake was made and the party accepted it," PM Modi said at the election rally in Ambedkar Nagar in south Delhi today. "No one should play with the unity of the country for political benefits."

The Prime Minister's comments came as the BJP expressed its regrets, terming the error in the Vision document an "inadvertent mistake" and put up a fresh version in its website.

"The word 'immigrant' was used in the heading, but the paragraph ahead used the word migrant," said Communication minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. "Our brothers and sisters from the northeast are proud citizens of India wherever they are. The BJP walks an extra mile to ensure their safety."

On Tuesday, the BJP released its Vision Document for the February 7 assembly election, in which a section said: "Northeastern immigrants to be protected".

With the document coming in the wake of a series of attacks on the people from northeast across the country, the Congress demanded that the BJP apologise.

At a media conference held later in the day, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said it was a "typographical error" but added the BJP was the only party to mention the creation of a separate northeast cell in its Vision Document.

Hitting out at the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, she said they had no such provision in their manifestos.

In the edited version of the Vision Document, the heading was changed to "People from the North East in Delhi to be protected".

It promised that "Special cells in all police stations and special 24-hour helpline numbers" will be set up for the protection of the north eastern people in Delhi. To safeguard the students from northeast, "special guardianships will be arranged with local families for them," it said.