Illegal immigration a threat to NE (India)
26 Aug, 2007, 2100 hrs IST, PTI
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Pol ... 312470.cms

KOHIMA, India: Unchecked illegal immigration to the Northeast has posed a serious threat to indigenous people and an imminent danger to the nation's sovereignty, a two-day seminar here observed.

The seminar on "Modernisation without Westernisation and illegal immigrants in the context of the North-east," which concluded today, asserted that everyone should put their heads together on how to check the twin problems of senseless Westernisation and continuing immigration from Bangladesh.

Speaking as the chief guest, Nagaland home minister Thenucho said the illegal immigration threatened the socio-cultural identity of indigenous people in the region, and at the same time posed an alarming danger to the sovereignty of the nation.

The minister said illegal immigration had added to the menace of population explosion and it was also responsible for "all kinds of evils" in the society.

"Those politicians, who thrive on illegal immigrants to stay in power, are actually selling out their political and democratic rights," Thenucho asserted.

The seminar, attended by politicians, academics, anthropologists, community leaders, senior journalists and retired police officers, emphasised on development of indigenous model of modernisation in tune with one's own genius, knowledge and culture instead of imitating the west.

In the context of modernisation in Naga society, the home minister lamented, "we tend to believe the modernisation as westernisation so much so that everything we have and enjoy today is western. Unfortunately, the Nagas failed to differentiate the two, and ultimately we equated the westernisation to the Christianity and obsessed with it."