Any young Bengali kid - boy or girl, Hindu or Muslim; Indian or a "Bangladeshi" has grown up saying- "Maa-r kacchey jabo (Let me go to my mother, no more playtime now)".
Most 'adult' Bengalis - come what may - shall like to say effortlessly - "ami baari jabo (I want to go back home)".
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| Blogger in Dhaka : 2017 |
Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has made such a statement. She is not merely ventilating her 'wishes'; she has also set a timeline.
Almost my entire life has been tied to the people of Bangladesh, to the Awami League, to the democratic struggle, and to the development of Bangladesh.
"So, I want to say clearly: overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy, I will return to my country this year."
This has led people to raise eyebrows. Hundreds of Awami League workers and leaders - now taking shelter in various parts of India - perhaps mostly in West Bengal, Tripura and some parts of Assam - are happy about Hasina's statement given during a media interview.
But at the same time; they all are keeping fingers crossed. The refrain being - let us not cook the dish before the fish is captured in the net !
I interacted with a senior Awami League leader (now in exile and in his hideout). He says:
"New Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi has been given rank of a cabinet minister. Trivedi’s "Bengal-politics' experence and identity and make him unique and certainly better equipped than a career diplomat.
The Modi Govt has played its best foot forward. It now wants to manage the relationship effectively with sincerity and giving a special respectability but it will now change BJP's domestic political equations vis-a-vis detect and deport of Bangladeshis".
Trivedi can navigate the cultural phenomenon of India-Bangladesh relationship much smoothly than anyone has done in the past".
The problem for Dhaka ever since the ouster of 'Bangladeshi immigrant-friendly Mamata Banerjee' is that things have become complex. At the same time, both New Delhi and the new Suvendu-led regime in Kolkata are all set to implement detect, delete, and deport policy.
Apparently, around 5,000 people have been expelled without delay and avoiding any court-related formalities in the last few months.
Indian security and West Bengal police personnel have been escorting 'Bangladeshi groups' through cuts in the border fence at night. Earlier this year, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (also from BJP) claimed that even in his state such strategies were being adopted.
I argued with him for a while. And then he confessed; "As labour, the Bangladeshis were absorbed into India’s informal economy —construction, domestic work, and various supply chain between Bangladesh and West Bengal (under Mamata)."
But essentially, they were "perfect outsiders or the illegal infiltrators" and whose presence will justify the BJP's policies about NRC, the CAA and the new policy of 'push ins'.
Over the years, the BJP has built its 'political economy' in part on the Bangladeshi Muslim as a threat.
There are different stages too. From the “infiltrator” (or mere Banglaeshis) language of the early 1990s, to Home Minister Amit Shah’s newly 'description' of migrants as “termites”.
We have been calling this as the “Bangladeshi problem”. This portrayal of Bangladeshis as infiltrators or security threats — has existed in India for quite sometime now.
In moments of riots, ethnic conflicts in the Northeast, or broader political tensions, the “Bangladeshis” have often emerged as the fault guys in the pastoral hamlets and even smaller towns.
The scenario is worth taking note of in places such as Dhubri, Cachar belt in Barak valley of Assam.
Techically, such a set up suited the cops and other lower level functionaries in Babudom.
Bangladeshis can be easily made scapegoats -- someone who can be vilified and even criminalised without significant fallout to bilateral relations with Bangladesh.
However, there has been another kind of a problem. The Trinamool Congress sources say "The Bengali Muslims , that is Indians, and Bangladeshis become interchangeable categories often".
The fact that many of such 'people' live in border districts in Assam and in West Bengal in areas such as Malda and Murshidabad.
The fact they are both Muslim-majority and in border regions — makeit a good case to substantial the charge many of them are in India due to what is called the “Bangladeshi infiltration”.
Long back in the 1990s; Assam chief minister Hiteshwar Saika had said there was "no Bangladeshis" in the state. The Congress party's vote bank politics was at play. But around the same time, the then Nagaland chief minister S C Jamir had said --
"Bangladeshis are increasing like rabbits".
The Bangladeshi influx actually 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 tosuggest that Bangladeshis have found 'home-stays' even in places like Delhi, Mumbai and parts of Kerala.
The Naga Students' Federtaion (NSF) said in 2023 that there was a need for a tough and honest government run by tough and honest leaders, tough and honest bureaucracy backed by 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 was a sinister design in this demographic explosion; and sadly this got a huge bolster during the 1971 Bangladeshi struggle for freedom against Pakistan.
The 2025 Immigration and Foreigners Act accelerated the process of detection and deporation.
Earlier law that was infiltrators friendly, the Foreigners Tribunal, has been donw away with from the deportation chain.
Previously, suspected foreigners in Assam were supposed to appear before a tribunal before expulsion. The new administrative bypass is much more effective.
This also means the determination of foreignness is now a BSF/police function.
It is working well even as som critics have said that there is a 'transition' or conversion of Citizenship into a security issue.
This was a vital step.
ends
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