Uma Bharati presses for Ram temple

GUWAHATI: Bharatiya Janashakti Party chief Uma Bharati Monday said her party would put pressure on Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani to construct the Ram Mandir at Ayodha if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comes to power "Me and my party would go all out in convincing Advani to construct the Ram Mandir immediately if the NDA comes to power," Uma Bharati, who is on a two-day tour of Assam to campaign for the BJP, told journalists here.
"I have full faith in Advani that he would leave no stone unturned to fulfil our dream of having the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya."
But the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister goofed up when she advocated the need for an amended version of the now scrapped Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act (IMDT) to check the influx of illegal Bangladeshis.
"I am assuring you that once Advani becomes the prime minister, the IMDT Act would be revised and amended so that the provisions of the act can be properly enforced to detect and deport illegal Bangladeshis from Assam," she said.
The IMDT Act was scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2006 following a petition by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and replaced with the Foreigners Act of 1946.
Both the BJP and the AGP were opposed to the IMDT Act as the legislation put the onus of proving a person as an infiltrator on the complainant rather than on the accused.
Under the Foreigners Act, it is the accused that has to prove his citizenship.
Journalists pointed out the goof up, but Bharati went on to say that the IMDT Act or similar tough legislations were the need of the hour to check infiltration.