Months ahead of the assembly election in New Delhi, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP have got themselves in a verbal conflict over the issue of the illegal Rohingya living in the national capital. In a letter to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi alleged that 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.

Atishi also cited the old social media posts by the 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."

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In a strong counter, Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said that 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 ₹ 10,000," Puri said.

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"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," Puri further added.

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Rohingya in 2017 were forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State. A large group of people walked for days via jungles and undertook sea journeys across the Bay of Bengal to reach safety in Bangladesh, from where many of them crossed into India.


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