‘Correct position’: Hardeep Puri after MHA rebuttal on Centre’s Rohingya plan

Hours after the Union home ministry (MHA) said on Wednesday that Rohingya refugees in New Delhi would be held at a detention centre and then deported, contradicting Hardeep Singh Puri's earlier statement promising EWS flats to members of the community, the Union housing and urban affairs minister tweeted the MHA statement calling it the “correct position”.

“Home Ministry’s press release with respect to the issue of Rohingya illegal foreigners gives out the correct position,” Puri tweeted.

Puri had earlier outlined new provisions for the Rohingya, signalling a potential change in the government's critical stance towards the refugee group from Myanmar. Rohingya refugees would be allotted flats in western Delhi's Bakkarwala area, provided basic amenities and round-the-clock police protection, Puri had said on Twitter.

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But, hours later, the MHA said in a statement that "Rohingya illegal foreigners" would remain at a locality in the city's southern reaches as authorities worked to deport them.

"Illegal foreigners are to be kept in the detention centre till their deportation as per law," the home ministry said in a statement.

It also said that the Delhi government "proposed to shift Rohingya Muslims to a new location".

But Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia attacked the BJP dispensation, alleging the central government was trying to blame the AAP government after "'secretly trying to give permanent residence to the Rohingyas in Delhi" and the Delhi government will not allow this "conspiracy".

The BJP has been accusing the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of trying to settle illegal Rohingya Muslims due to its appeasement politics.

According to a home ministry estimate, around 40,000 Rohingya migrants who have fled from Myanmar live in different parts of the country, including Delhi.