New Delhi
India is on high alert along its international border with Bangladesh.
As thousands of Bangladeshis including Hindus and Christians camped along the border seemingly are desperate to cross over to India hoping for a safer sanctuary away from the turmoil back home,Indian security forces are preventing them from doing so.
India's elite Border Security Force (BSF) has even "detained several Bangladeshis" in the past few days as they infiltrated the Indian side amid the continuing violence in the neighbouring country.
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| snap credit : AFP/UCAN |
"We cannot take you inside as per our wish, and if you make noise like this, you will not be able to understand what we are saying. Our senior officers have also come here, and on their behalf, I want to tell you that this problem cannot be solved in one day," a senior BSF officialis heard saying in a video-footage shared by Bangladesh's Tista TV News."We know that you are facing this problem. Everyone understands the problem.You have come here, but this is a matter of discussion. The problem cannot be solved like this".
He further stated: "We know that you are facing this problem. Everyone understands the problem.
"Our senior officers have talked to your officers, and a message has come from their side, that is, from your officers, that they are trying to solve this problem. So, you are requested to go back today," the officer appealed to the crowd.
However, there are other authorities stating that nevertheless a good number of Bangladeshis havealready entered into some parts of India.
Law Minister in BJP-ruled Odisha state, Prithviraj Harichandran says, "Many people have come into India through West Bengal (state border Bangladesh and whose people share linguistic affinity with Bangladeshis)and some directly through the sea. Illegal immigrants residing in Odisha will be identified soon, the government has decided to take care of this matter".
Illegal migrants are by law can be identified by Indian authorities and can be arrestedand repatriated to their country of origin. But these are easier said than done.
In the 1970s when Bangladesh got independence and there was violence a large number ofHindus and Muslims and possibly even Christians and Buddhists had crossed over to Assamand other eastern Indian states.In between these years, due to lack of jobs and floods and other calamities from time to timea large number of Muslims from Bangladesh also have infiltrated into Assam.
In fact, it can be stated that Indian state Assam's gory history of violence, students' unrest and lack of development in more ways than one are all linked to migration of Bangladeshis into the state since 1971 when the then East Pakistan had come out of the control of Islamabad.
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Indian army had helped Bangladesh get independenceand left Pakistan bleeding and humiliated; but India also had to pay a heavy price by accommodatingmillions of immigrants.
In fact, the socio-political and economic conditions of eastern Indian states such as Assam, West Bengal,Tripura and even Christian dominated Nagaland and Meghalaya from time to time hit headlinesdue to multiple types of problems owing largely due to immigration from Bangladesh.
"This morning at 1:30 AM, Bangladeshi citizens identified as Motiur Seikh, Mushiar Mullah, Tania Mullah, and Rita Mullah attempted to enter India through the Karimganj sector of the India-Bangladesh border. However, police effectively intervened at the zero point and promptly repelled them, preventing their unauthorized entry," Assam Chief Minister and a powerful BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted on Monday, Aug 12.
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| Jamir and blogger |
"Bangladeshis are increasing like rabbits" -- said Jamir as Chief Minister in 1994.
Two days back addressing a public function, Sarma had said demographic changes have turned certain districts of his state into “mini Bangladesh” (this is in reference to migration prior to present crisis) and the only reason the Hindu minority in these districts has remained secure is because of the state government".
In mid-nineties, a veteran Naga Christian leader and the then Chief Minister of Nagaland, S C Jamir(belonging to Congress party) had said: "Bangladeshis are increasing like rabbits".
The statement actually exposed the hollowness of the claim of security alert along the border asNagaland does not share immediate borders with Bangladesh and those coming therepass through states such as Tripura and Assam.Tripura - which for long was ruled by communists- has sizable tribal Christians who have beenreduced to minority in numbers due to the overwhelming presence of Bengali speakingpeople -- both Hindus and Muslims.In another northeastern state Arunachal Pradesh, there was social tension when a large number ofChakmas - Bangladeshi Buddhists - had entered into the state.
A book by a retired Naga bureaucrat Khekiye Sema 'Encountering Life - Antics of a Govt Servant' -- says that the Bangladeshi Muslims have been perhaps "recklessly" harboured in the Dimapur region of the state for manualand agricultural labour and hence the cautioning -- "Today they are our obedient servants. Tomorrow it will be our optionless turn to serve them".
In 2023, influential Naga Students Federation (NSF) issued a statement expressing concern that lack of stringent implementation of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR), 1873 had made the Naga homeland a safe haven for illegal immigrants.
In general sense the reference could be about Bangladeshi influx, which stands as a big menace for the state of Assam, the rest of north east India and also the rest of India.
It may not be erroneous to suggest that Bangladeshis have found 'home-stays' even in places like Delhi, Mumbai and parts of Kerala.
The NSF statement had an interesting line the -- “need for a tough and honest government run by tough and honest leaders, tough and honest bureaucracy backed by a tough and honest general public".
In other words they are calling for a vigilant society. And here is the catch.
In fact, Assam’s Nagaon to Daboka belt bordering Dimapur in Nagaland was already flooded with
Bengali Muslims and also the Hindus even in the nineties and sons of the soil (Assamese) have been
outnumbered. Natives believe that there is a sinister design in this demographic explosion; and sadly this got a
huge boost during the 1971 Bangladesh struggle for freedom against Pakistan.
The modus operandi allegedly is following a fixed pattern. Once the 'illegal immigrants' are out from human reservoir called Bangladesh to the Indian side of the border they settle for any manual work including household chores, daily wages on a comparatively much lesser wages than other Indian labourers.
"Within five years they would own small grocery shops or start an egg or fish/meat business, even taking stuff on four-wheel carts. Slowly they attain middle class position and soon become culturally organized and politically threatening to political parties. Women and children also get employment at cheap rates as domestic help and household chores. There are a huge number of madrasas and several NGOs helping them directly or indirectly to find jobs," says analyst Ashutosh Talukdar in Assam.
Paradoxically, till hitherto the RSS raised the bogey called 'Love Jehad' in Kerala and states such as Uttar Pradesh innorth, now there is general talk about that and several tribal Christian communities in northeast have encouraged or fallen prey to 'wedlock jehad'.
The need for social vigilance came long back but none took the issue seriously. Nothing much moved on ground.
There is yet another angle to the agony of northeast India and here too the issue was pushed under carpet.
Over the years it is alleged by political detractors including provincial outfits (regional parties such as Asom Gana Parishad) that the Congress governments in Assam under Hiteshwar Saikia and Tarun Gogoi were "soft" towards Bangladeshi 'guests'. The reason was Muslim vote bank.
(AGP in 1990s had charged Tarun Gogoi and Hiteshwar Saikia for being “soft toward Bangladeshi guests”)
There was more to it and the complexity ought to be comprehended in their totality. A political party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is already in an influential position in Assamand the outfit is known for being "immigrants friendly".
The apprehensions about greater Bengali Muslim hegemony in the northeast region gained currency when in Silchar belt along the Barak valley, a new political equation emerged among the Bengali Muslims --- allegedly at the instance of Miyaland Demand Committee.
The then Assam Governor Lt Gen [Retd] S K Sinha (in 1998-99) had said, Bangladeshi influx has a lot to do with insurgents and their operations.
“Militant group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) speaks on every issue under the sky. They join issues with me even on frivolous subjects. But they maintained a thundering silence on the influx. Reason is obvious,” Gen. Sinha had noted.
Around 2005, it was discovered that many ULFA leaders ran a huge profit making hotel business in Dhaka and other
places in Bangladesh. Other insurgent groups in the north east from Manipur, Tripura and Nagalandalso have always enjoyed the hospitality and strategic support of East Pakistan and also Bangladesh later.
"The ISI of Pakistan and its cahoots -- the Jamait group in Bangladesh and a section of 'intelligence agencies' also played their roles," say federal government officials in Delhi
Surrendered ULFA lieutenant Abhinash Bordoloi had interacted with some visiting journalists from Delhi in 2000. “ULFA just could not take any step regarding the influx of Bangladeshis. The ISI-Bangladesh nexus to help ULFA continued for long and so is (was) the ULFA dilemma. ULFA has hardly targeted Bangladeshi Muslims while they did not hesitate to eliminate several Marwari, Bihari and other north Indian cutting across professions,” Bordoloi had said.
However, the politics of Muslim appeasement seemed to have dominated the politics of Assam for quite some time.
The Modi government is cautious about the long term impact of the immigration issue vis-a-vis Bangaldesh.
Hindus, who make up about 8% of Bangladesh's population of 170 million, have traditionally supported ousted PMSheikh Hasina's Awami League party.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council estimates at least 52 of the country's 64 districts have been impacted by communal violence since Aug. 5 and therefore they have taken to streets now.
In 2019, the Modi government enacted a law Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that allowsnon-Muslims persecuted in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh getting Indian citizenship.
But there was a catch. The deadline fixed was Dec 31, 2014.
Under CAA 2019 amendment, migrants who entered India by December 31, 2014, and had suffered "religious persecution or fear of religious persecution" in their country of origin (that is Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh) were made eligible for citizenship by the new law. These types of migrants will be granted fast track Indian citizenship in six years.
ends
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