Dy PM for consensus on citizen I-cards

Describing illegal immigration as "horrific", Advani sought national consensus on citizenship identity cards to strengthen security.

Describing illegal immigration to India as "horrific", Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani on Friday sought a national consensus on citizenship identity cards to strengthen internal security.

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"Illegal immigration is a major problem for India and it has reached horrific proportions. No other country faces this problem to the magnitude that India does. There is a need for consensus for creating a national register of citizens and providing citizenship identity cards, important for internal security," Advani said here during his 'Bharat Uday Yatra.'

"We have discussed the issue at the conference of director generals of police and chief ministers. If the Election Commission and political parties also take up the matter for making an ideal voting list as it was unfortunate that the voters came to know that their names did not exist on the list only on the election day," he said.

This will enhance the quality of democracy and governance besides facilitating the detection and deportation of illegal immigrants, he said.

Asked about the recent comments by party leaders on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Advani said "they were not personal remarks. The foreign origin issue is not personal but a political matter. It even had a direct effect on Congress that split on the issue. And a person whom they had made speaker of the Lok Sabha, left the party and is still not prepared to join it due to differences on foreign origin issue."

He was referring to PA Sangma leaving Congress party but did not take his name.