Defence minister George Fernandes with former Manipur chief minister Radhabinod Koijam (right) and Union urban development minister Ananth Kumar at the daylong “Conference of the Northeast states on employment generation” in Guwahati on Saturday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Nov. 9: The BJP gameplan to scrap the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act by convening a joint session of Parliament suffered a setback today, with defence minister George Fernandes asserting that the NDA government would not take up any issue that was not on its agenda.

“The NDA will stick to its agenda and not take up anything outside it,” said the Samata Party leader, who is also the convenor of the NDA, when asked to comment on BJP president Venkaiah Naidu’s call for a joint session of Parliament to scrap the Act.

Samata Party general secretary Shambhu Srivastav also ruled out scrapping of the controversial Act, saying it was not on the agenda of the NDA government.

Both the Samata Party leaders were here to attend a daylong regional conference on employment generation organised by the Lok Manch, a new platform recently floated by the NDA constituent.

The BJP chief, during his visit to the state in September, had said his party would exert pressure on the NDA government to convene a joint session of Parliament to repeal the Act. Naidu, while addressing a conference of BJP workers of the Northeast, said, “The Act has failed to serve any purpose and must be scrapped.”

State BJP president Rajen Gohain claimed that deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, while addressing a meeting of state BJP presidents at Mumbai last month, had given an assurance that a joint session of Parliament would be convened to repeal the Act. The state unit of the BJP had also called an Assam bandh on October 31 demanding immediate repeal of the Act.

Despite its commitment in its election manifesto, the BJP had cited the lack of requisite strength in the Rajya Sabha to push through a Bill for doing away with the controversial Act till Naidu talked about the joint session.

However, after the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance was passed in the joint session of Parliament, the influential All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU) demanded that the BJP-led NDA government fulfil its commitment on scrapping the Act by convening a joint session of Parliament.

With the Samata Party ruling out the Act’s repeal, the Congress today found an unexpected ally in the NDA coalition on the vexed issue. The Congress had all along opposed scrapping of the Act.

The BJP chief, however, alleged the Congress government in the state has been busy appeasing illegal migrants and was not concerned about the threats posed by unabated infiltration.

Army help: The defence ministry has asked army authorities in the Northeast to locally procure all goods available in the region for their needs.

Fernandes today said that this directive had been issued to generate self-employment in the region. Fernandes was here on a day’s visit to attend a regional conference on employment generation. The conference was organised by the Lok Manch, a platform launched by the Samata Party recently.

The minister said the army was keen on extending all help, including financial aid, if anyone came forward to set up a fruit-processing unit in the region, which he said had a great potential. “The army can, for instance, provide a big market of fruit juice in the region by procuring it for its troops operating in different parts of the region,” he said.

Fernandes also stressed the huge potential of commercial utilisation bamboo in the region to generate employment. Citing the example of China, he said the neighbouring country had earned foreign exchange worth Rs 50,000 crore by marketing bamboo products.

Attributing insurgency in the region to growing unemployment, Fernandes said the only demand of the militants who laid down arms was adequate employment.

Speaking on the occasion, Union minister for urban development and poverty alleviation Ananth Kumar said the Vajpayee-led government had initiated a number of schemes for employment through projects of road construction, dwelling units and other poverty-alleviation programmes.

Aerobatic display: The Indian Air Force (IAF) aerial ballet team, Suryakiran, will carry out a six-aircraft formation aerobatics at the Air Force station in Guwahati on November 11 and 12.

The Suryakiran Aerobatic Team, comprising eight Kiran Mark-II aircraft, is at present carrying out formation aerobatic displays at various Air Force bases in the Northeast. The aerobatic team, which was formed in 1949 with three Vampire aeroplanes, later changed to Thunderbolts.

A new formation aerobatic team of Kiran aircraft known as Suryakiran came into being in 1996. The team, in its trademark red and white colours, carries out regular displays .