Author: Chandan Nandy
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: October 28, 2001
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/281001/detNAT06.asp
A fresh influx of Bangladeshi nationals
into some Indian border states after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led
alliance captured power in Dhaka recently has set alarm bells ringing in
the corridors of power here. West Bengal and Tripura have taken the brunt
of illegal immigration. A Home Ministry document attributes the recent
inflow to ''either political vendetta ag-ainst Awami League supporters
or BNP's targeting of Hindus''.
When contacted, Union Home Minister
L K Advani said, ''The Prime Minister is extremely concerned about the
developments in Bangladesh and it is with this view that he has sent his
National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra to Dhaka.''
According to the MHA note, Hindu
women are particularly unsafe. ''It appears that they have migrated in
large numbers. So far, 370 persons have entered Tripura and 250 West Bengal,
though the ''actual influx'' is expected to be much higher than that officially
reported so far. The migrants have taken shelter with their relatives already
settled in the two states.
The document says that extortion,
assault, rape and desecration of Hindu temples, which increased following
the BNP's victory in the general elections, prompted this influx.
In the North Bengal sector, illegal
immigration into South Dinajpur, Malda and Cooch Behar districts was reported
first on October 14. About 50 families (223 members), mostly Hindus, ente-red
the three districts in groups. A study shows that as many as 535 persons
(404 Hindus, 113 Muslims) sneaked in through the Hil-li checkpost in South
Dinajpur.
The documents say only seven families
comprising 21 members, and two families are reported to have entered through
Bangaon in North 24 Parganas and Murshidabad districts respectively. But
intelligence officials in Calcutta, the note says, believe that the actual
migration in the South Bengal sector would be at least ''five-fold''. The
same officials have reported that ''Hindu upper middle-class families have
shifted about 3,000-4,000 of their female family members with relatives
in India''.
However, in Tripura the influx began
on October 6 following the defeat of Zainul Hazari, the Awami League contestant
from Feni-II constituency in Bangladesh. The document reveals that Hazari
along with Kamal Majumdar, chairman of the Fulgazi Union in Feni district,
and about 150 other League supporters and workers, including Hindus and
Muslims, entered Bari village in Belonia sub-division of South Tripura
district.
