Shiban Khaibri
India -“that is Bharat” – has traditionally been a very generous host to immigrants from other countries in the past and post partition has been bearing an unprecedented brunt of mass migration of millions of people especially from the then East Pakistan and later Bangladesh flooding the North Eastern states like West Bengal , Assam, Tripura , Nagaland etc . The process, more or less, continues even now which is resulting in not only a gradual devastating demographic imbalance but is becoming a source of conflict and tension at these states as well. It is another thing that for political expediency and cheap electoral gains with eye on potential additional vote Banks, most of the politicians and political parties, have remained quite lackadaisical towards the problem and quite indifferent towards either reversing the process which is of a persistent and continuous nature or by appearing to be stopping, at least from now onwards , providing support and protection to such illegal immigrants , making it thus not absolutely impossible for any sort of deportation. Have we any data quite update about the number of such unwanted immigrants in this regard, is the moot question . The UPA government and the NDA government both, during their respective tenures, have been revealing such critical data in respect of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh . In the year 2004, the then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs told Parliament that there were more than 12 million illegal Bangladeshi in the country. Likewise , in 2016 the Minister of State for Home Affairs told Parliament that there were 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India. How many are there as on date, which include now Rohngiyas from Myanmar also, though not hard to guess , however, exact position is not known but expectedly the overall number is continuing to be steadily increasing which is a cause of alarm. Who is, in fact, bothered about this problem is , again, central to the problem in itself.
This country already now 145 crores in population as against 38 crores in 1948 cannot afford to be sort of “free for all” from anywhere, any country and virtually unbridled for according refuge to foreign individuals illegally regardless of unfortunately the patronage of different hues provided to them. Imagine illegal immigrants from a country like Myanmar are straightaway helped and virtually ”packed” to various parts of this country , nearly 40000 of them alone are residing in Delhi, Haryana, Hyderabad, Jaipur , Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu , according to UNHCR. We fully know that Rohingya and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants have been using Assam just like a corridor and now they have fanned across the country and that there could be larger designs of their settlement and progressively disturbing the demographic profile, cannot be ruled out. Who is behind this dodgy and lurid game needs to be identified and dealt with accordingly . If this trend under any alibi or ”excuse”, is still not addressed with all seriousness , doom and disequilibrium of social fabric coupled with grave security threats cannot be ruled out. Rise in crimes, social disharmony , participating in and fuelling violence , forcible encroachments of public places etc are some of the imminent offshoots of unbridled illegal entry of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals into the country. Gaining excess to the system overtly and covertly , in obtaining sensitively important documents like Aadhar Cards, Pan Cards, Sim Cards etc cannot be treated casually as these very documents tend to lodging of claims and ”rights” by them to all facilities – ranging from sundry assistance, accommodation and comfortable staying , benefits like medical , banking and education , basic utilities, of avocation and jobs – finally culminating in claiming citizenship or creating lot many problems backed by support from some politicians , in the event of the government even conceiving of their deportation.
It may be noted that India is neither a party to the UN 1951 Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol and does not have a national refugee protection framework. On the other hand, India as a sovereign nation, has the obligation and priority in its duties backed by due constitutional framework to ensure that it cared for its citizens vis-a-vis the demographic and social structure of the country did not, in any case, undergo any change to the detriment and against the interests of its citizens. Resources of the nation are , therefore, necessarily to be utilized for fulfilling the fundamental rights of its people. Security and safety of the citizens were paramount.
The problem has assumed proportions of causing concern as early this month, a nexus of operatives , human trafficking elements and others connected with Rohingyas was unearthed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). As many as five human trafficking modules were dismantled who were spanned over ten states and UT of Jammu and Kashmir and were engaged in the clandestine game of actively facilitating, even motivating, illegal entry of such persons from Myanmar and Bangladesh with wicked plans of their systematic permanent settlement in border villages of far-off states in the country. As many as 45 criminals engaged in such illegal immigration and smuggling in of people of the said countries were reportedly not only arrested but a whooping amount of Rs.20 lakh in cash, some US dollars and more importantly , Aadhar cards, Pan cards, Sim cards, mobile phones etc too were recovered from them. They were involved in crimes like trafficking in women and then supplying them to ”influential persons”, some of them reportedly even forcibly married to elderly persons.
How come the border state of Tripura reportedly account for more than half of the arrests of active facilitators and smugglers of Rohingyas , can well be investigated by the NIA and remedial steps accordingly taken. It is quite unfortunate that none of the political leaders either in the manifestoes of their respective parties or during election campaigning themselves individually, even are remotely referring to the problem and at least, sharing with the people, being a threat to the society, the culture, the economy, the polity and the cardinal equilibrium of demography . How many districts in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Tripura, Meghalaya etc stand demographically tilted adversely due to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, must at least be made known and its impact too revealed.
On the other hand, we have an open porous border with Myanmar too and any internal social disturbances there, have an impact of inflow of “refugees” into this side. That there is a network of flourishing Narcotics trade along the border which gives a fillip to tans- national trade in such substances, can neither be overlooked nor taken lightly hence the problem of illegal entry of Rohingyas needs to be addressed adequately . There are other several ”push factors” for bringing such ”refugees” from Myanmar here which needed a comprehensive policy to be stitched and meticulously followed by the concerned border states. All those coming from the two neighbouring countries to this side could not otherwise be necessarily genuine humanitarian cases but from internal security angle some could be potential security hazards as well. The wisdom lies in accepting and realising the presence of the problem , its magnitude and gravity coupled with its likely perilous effects.
Our country, acceptably, therefore, cannot afford to be an International Dharamshala or a sanctuary amidst a global environment of post end of cold war and perpetual rise of terrorism , all countries thus having tightened their borders against immigrants and asylum seekers. Ukraine – Russia conflict and more importantly, very recent Israel Hamas war point to the stark fact that considerations of race, religion, any cause , even humanity considerations are not impelling prospective host countries to even review let alone relax their policies to ease their border restrictions . How come this country of absolute peace , civilization(al) non violence and absolute tolerance be continuously taken for a ride thanks to political expediency from within? Enough is now really enough.
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