NEW DELHI – Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia onWednesday said the Indian Army should occupy a portion of Bangladesh andsettle the illegal immigrants there, Hindustan Times has reported.

The Hindutva hardliner, who now heads the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad(AHP), a breakaway faction of the VHP, was speaking in Guwahati despite theadministration banning his public meetings in Assam for two months.

“There are around 50 lakh illegal immigrants. In the last two years, only17 have been deported. The BJP government which came on the promise ofdeporting illegal immigrants has taken a U-turn. Now Indian Army shouldoccupy a portion of land in Bangladesh and settle them there if Bangladeshrefuses to take them back,” Togadia said, attacking the SarbanandaSonowal-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Taking another jibe, Togadia said how he wondered if it was still a TarunGogoi-led government in Assam seeing the way the present government isappeasing Muslims.

The Hindutva leader was upset over the police ban on him addressing apublic meeting in the city or making any inflammatory statement in front ofthe media for two months.

He was also banned from addressing the media at the Guwahati Press Club.However, he chose another locality for the press conference.

Reacting to Togadia’s remarks, state BJP president Ranjit Das said, “TheBJP does not discriminate on the basis of religion or caste. There is noquestion of appeasement. The work of detection of foreigners is on. Thereis no deportation treaty. Can we do it just because Praveen Togadia issaying? We will work according to the Constitution.”

“The statements that we have seen so far do not come in the communalcategory,” Hiren Nath, Commissioner of Police, said. “He did not use theword Muslim or Hindu,” he said. “Still we will see what he spoke andaccordingly decide if any action is warranted,” Nath said.