Following massive protests triggered by BJP's "Vision Document" for Delhi polls terming people from north-east India as "immigrants", the saffron party's Delhi chief - Satish Upadhyay - apologised to the community.
Upadhyay informed India Today that it was a "mistake", result of a "clerical error", which has been corrected by reprinting the document.
The word "immigrant" erupted protests all across Assam, where bodies like Asom Gana Parishad and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) demanded an unconditional apology from the BJP to the people of the region for hurting their sentiments.
The demonstrators set many dummies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on fire; many roads in the region were blocked while the protesters chanted anti-BJP slogans.
Meanwhile, activists from the National Students Union of India blocked the entry to the state BJP headquarters and set party flags on fire.
However, the police arrived at the spot and normalized the situation.
The national spokesperson of the BJP, MJ Akbar, said that the party was repentant for the printing mistake in the document. "I want to reassure that all the brothers and sisters of the northeast are as valuable, as important for BJP as any other citizen," Akbar was quoted as saying.
The Vision Document of the BJP, which includes the party objectives, comprises of a section entitled as "North Eastern Immigrants to be Protected". This section talks about special cells and 24-hour helpline numbers for safeguarding the interests of the north-eastern migrants.
