Raking up two of the party's core ideological issues, chief ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states on Monday decided to deport illegal immigrants under the Foreigners Act and re-inforce the ban on cow slaughter in the wake of the recent Supreme Court judgements.
Expressing serious concern at the rapidly growing challenge of naxalism, a day-long meeting of the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat in New Delhi also decided to seek a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to draw his attention to the seriousness of the problems and seek his support.
Charging the soft attitude of the United Progressive Alliance government was responsible for the problem, they said while several steps had been taken at the local level to counter it, given the gigantic size of the problem, it can only be solved by the concerted action of the central and state governments.
Expressing dissatisfaction at the weak response of the centre to the quashing of IMDT Act by the apex court, it was decided that in BJP-ruled states, action will be taken in accordance with the Foreigners Act to identify and deport illegal migrants, senior party leader Jaswant Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
Taking note of the court's verdict upholding Gujarat's blanket ban on slaughter of cow, bulls and bullock, they decided to review their existing legislation on the subject and re-inforce to the extent now permitted by the apex court.
Addressing the meet, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked the chief ministers to set up grievance redressal mechanisms and ensure that replies were sent to all complaints.
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