By Shaikh Azizur Rahman / Voa News
The Indian government has revoked a plan to give free residential housing to Rohingya Muslim refugees in New Delhi following protests by the right-wing Hindu organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad [VHP], which called the refugee community “infiltrators.”
India’s Housing and Urban Affairs minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, said Wednesday the government would address the problem of housing of Rohingya refugees — signaling a potential change in the government’s policy toward the ethnic refugee community from Myanmar.
Fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar, thousands of Rohingyas have entered India over the decades. The refugees do menial jobs for a living and live in decrepit shack colonies in many parts of the country.
“In a landmark decision,” India has decided to allot flats to “Rohingya refugees” in the Bakkarwala area of Delhi, where they will be provided with basic amenities and police protection, Puri, a leader and minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party- [BJP] led federal government, said in his tweet.
For decades, India has identified Rohingyas as “illegal immigrants,” not as refugees. But in his tweet, Puri called the Rohingyas in India “refugees,” surprising many.
The government revoked its decision hours after Puri tweeted Wednesday, with India’s Home Ministry denying on Twitter that it had issued any order to provide flats to the “Rohingya illegal foreigners.”
This story was originally published in voanews.com . Read the full story here