Author: Editorial
Publication: The Free press Journal
Date: January 22, 2003
The BJP President Venkaiah Naidu
has once against got pseudo-secularists in a tizzy. Naidu has set
the agenda for the party's campaign in the forthcoming elections in several
States. Much to the chagrin of the leftists and other fellow travellers
who hate to take an unequivocal stand on vital issues raised by him, the
BJP chief seems set to push ahead with what in one word constitutes the
party's nationalist agenda. Naidu has listed the growing menace of terrorism,
illegal immigration and forcible conversions of Hindus into Christians
and other religions as the party's plank in the forthcoming State elections.
Take all these issues singly or collectively, how can anyone in his right
mind object against these being raised in order to warn the people at large
against the threat posed, singly or collectively, by them to the unity
and integrity of this country? To take terrorism first, even the
most dim-witted in public life would know the high costs the country has
had to pay in the last couple of decades for the incessant campaign of
subversion and disruption masterminded by Pakistan and its super state-within-the
state, ISI. Even ordinary people are fully aware of the great danger
the ISI-funded and exported terrorists pose to everyday life in this country.
It is not only the terrorist acts which made huge headlines like the attack
on the J and K legislature building or the attach on Parliament house or
the recent assault on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, but the daily
killings of innocent men, women and children, particularly in J and K,
which have brought terrorism frighteningly close to the doorstep of ordinary
Indians. Therefore, if the President of the ruling party insists
on using terrorism as a poll plank, it ought to be most welcome, especially
because implied in this assertion is the assurance to fight the menace
far more vigorously than had been the case hitherto.
The second issue of illegal immigrants
too affects every Indian and, in fact, the fight against it ought to have
resulted in a bipartisan consensus. Sadly enough, the vote-bank politics
of the non-BJP parties has further aggravated the problem. For, the demographic
character of a large number of parliamentary constituencies in the country
has been altered by the influx of illegals from Bangladesh and, in much
smaller numbers, from Pakistan. Not only the big metropolitan towns
and other smaller urban centres in the country, but even the far-flung
tribal belts of Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand have undergone insidious demographic
changes , thanks to the unwelcome presence of Bangladeshis in these areas.
The demographic distortions apart, the Bangladesh settlements have become
hubs of organised crime and terrorist activities. At a rough estimate,
there are over one crore illegal immigrants from Bangladesh alone in India.
Despite half-hearted attempts by the authorities in the past, the programme
to weed them out and push them back to Bangladesh had come to nought following
the refusal of Dacca to accept them. Before the problem of illegal
Bangladeshis gets out of hand, the authorities will have to find a way
to (a) stop their further entry at the borders, and (b) to find a way to
identify those who are already here and deny them the rights and benefits
that bonafide citizens enjoy. It is shocking in the extreme that
a very large percentage of these illegals have not only become ration-card
holders, but what is worse, have become bonafide voters as well with
some of them even contesting elections to various local bodies. No
self-respecting people can or should put up with the breach of their borders
and their Constitution in such a flagrant manner as the Bangladeshis have
been doing with impunity since nearly 1980s. Anyone who promises to tackle
the menace of illegals is deserving of support by all right thinking Indians.
Regardless of what the pseudo-secularists and their cousins in the left
parties might have to say, the drive against illegals needs must be supported
by every Indian, for eventually the intrusion of illegals affects all of
us.
As for the issue of conversions,
surely the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to practise
and propagate his religion. But the problem arises when poor and
illiterate people in far-flung corners of the country are loured by the
promise of money or some other material gain to renege on their religion
and embrace another religion. The fact thjat most religious conversions
take place in poor enclaves in the country lends weight to the charge that
these are induced by the offer of financial hand-outs. Alarmed by
the rising incidence of such conversions, the Tamil Nadu Government had
recently enacted a law banning the use of money and other such blandishments
in religious conversions. Quite a few other states are likely to
enact similar laws. Those who have nothing to fear from the ban on
induced conversion should in fact welcome the enactment of the law on then
lines of the Tamil Nadu model in every State of the Union.
Given the above perspective on the
issues raised by the BJP president, it is really surprising that the other
parties, including the Congress, have not come forward to follow his lead.
Of course, safeguards should be in place to ensure that the fight against
terrorism and illegal immigrants or forcible conversions does not result
in the harassment of bonfide patriotic citizens. But there is no
denying the fact that these issues needs must be tackled without any further
delay. Therefore, only the rank partisan will cavil at the thought
of the ruling party at the Centre taking up these issues. Indeed,
the only thing that needs must be said is that the BJP-led government at
the Centre has done precious little thus far to fight the twin menace of
terrorism and illegal immigration. It must exert itself more to save
the country from these growing threats.
