Author: Shyam Khosla
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 22, 2006
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=114&page=9
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil's visit
to Dhubri district in western Assam last week seems to have woken him up to
the stark reality that the Indo-Bangladesh border is so porous that anyone
from across the border can walk into India at will. The Minister was "surprised"
to see the deplorable situation on the international border. He was shocked
to find for himself that in Maslabari sector a 25-km-long stretch had no fencing,
only pillars to mark the border. In Sonahat sector of the same district, a
tattering fence marked the border through which even a rhino could easily
cross over. The Minister's "surprise" is shocking for the simple
reason that people of Assam have been shouting from housetops for the past
quarter of a century about the pathetic conditions on the border and demanding
fencing to check massive illegal migration from Bangladesh.
All Assam Students Union (AASU) with active
support from the people of the state and sympathy of all patriotic citizens
across the land had carried on a sustained campaign against flooding of Assam
with Bangladeshis and has been expressing apprehension that Assamese would
be reduced to a minority in their own state if stringent steps were not taken
to check infiltration. It is a matter of national shame that the Centre should
have disbelieved the proud people of Assam on an issue of demographic invasion
that also concerns national security. It is unbelievable that the Minister
never found time to read countless reports filed by central intelligence agencies
about the porous nature of the border and the long-standing demand voiced
by nationalist forces to erect barrier to at least reduce, if not completely
stop, illegal infiltration.
The Home Minister will do well to go through
his Ministry's files to have insight into the problems posed by a porous border.
He will find telling reports from more than one Governor of Assam. In 1998,
Lt-General S.K. Sinha (retd) who is a top security expert with a rich military
and administrative experience and broad vision warned the Centre of the dire
consequences of continued infiltration. In a communication to the President
of India, the General summed up the situation thus: "As a result of population
movement from Bangladesh, the specter looms large on the indigenous people
of Assam being reduced to a minority in their own state. This silent and invidious
demographic invasion of Assam may result in the loss of geo-strategically
vital districts of lower Assam. The influx of these illegal migrants is turning
these districts into a Muslim-majority region. It will then be only a matter
of time when a demand for their merger with Bangladesh may be made."
In April last year, Assam Governor Ajai Singh
in a confidential report to the President-that found its way to the media-drew
the Union Government's attention to the grave situation on Indo-Bangladesh
border. He inter alia observed: "The border is literally one of the world's
most fluid border crossed daily, border officials say, by some 6,000 Bangladeshis
who come in search of work, often staying on to join the estimated 20 million
illegal immigrants in the country."
Although it is painful that the Congress and
the Communists should play down the dangerous consequences of massive infiltration
from Bangladesh, one is not unduly surprised at their attitude given their
weak commitment to national interests and the fact that infiltrators constitute
their vote-banks in their respective strongholds. It is no secret that a senior
Congress leader from Assam, who rose to a very high position at the national
level, was the one to encourage migrants from Bangladesh to create a big vote-bank
for the party. What is more painful and disturbing is that the secular brigade
in the media is never tired of making fun of the grave situation and mislead
the policy-makers by projecting it as a communal issue.
A mass-circulated English Daily of Delhi carried
a column by its former Editor in its January 1, 2006 issue that attacks BJP
and others of its ilk for "making a menace of migrants". Asserting
that no one knows how many illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were there in India,
the writer goes on to ask if the figure was 30 million, 20 million or "only
10 million". He is right. No one knows the exact number as the "secular"
brigade never allowed any government to carry out a nation-wide survey to
find out. But even if the lowest figure suggested by him was nearer truth,
is it too little to bother the nation?
Even while security experts the world over
are apprehensive that Bangladesh is emerging as another Afghanistan and many
a recent terrorist attacks in India have been traced to our eastern neighbour,
this seasoned journalist says there is very little evidence that Bangladeshis
foment terrorism in India. Looking at the security problem from a communal
angle, the author asks why Hindu Nepalese coming to India are welcome and
why no one talks about throwing out Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh.
He knows the answers but he must raise these
questions to prove his commitment to "secularism" and to obfuscate
the crucial national issue. India and Nepal are traditional friends with strong
cultural, historical and religious bonds. No passport or visa is required
by Indians and Nepalese to go to each other's country. With the rise of Maoist
threat from Nepal, the demand to prevent Maoists-most of whom are Hindus-from
entering India has been raised by nationalist forces. As for Hindu immigrants
from Bangladesh, they are victims of religious persecution and have all along
been forced out of their homes and hearths. Successive Indian governments
failed to prevail upon Bangladesh to let the Hindu minority live with dignity
and in peace in their motherland. They are victims of our folly of conceding
motherland's partition on religious lines. It is India's moral duty to protect
their rights. They can't be treated at par with Muslim infiltrators who cross
over to India from that Islamic country. True, millions of Indians have settled
abroad or gone there looking for better jobs. They went there on valid travel
documents. Legal migrants and infiltrators can't be treated at par.
Shivraj Patil has promised that the entire
Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam would be fenced by the end of the year 2006.
It is better late than never. One hopes that it will not remain an empty promise
and that the government will expedite the fencing of the border to check,
if not completely stop, the influx. For this to happen, the nationalist forces
in various walks of life will have to create a strong public opinion in favour
of the move lest the "secularists" frighten the government with
the charge that it is playing into the hands of "communalist". Let
all nationalist forces join hands to force the government to honour the solemn
pledge made by the Home Minister.
