POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 17 January 2009

‘Business’ Of Illegal Migrants

IT’S TIME TO BELL THE CAT

By Poonam I Kaushish

The chickens seem to be coming home to roost. This adage rang true last week with the out-of the-blue statement by the Union Home Minister Chidambaram that “illegal migrants had no business to be in India. I don’t regard a Bangladeshi as a Muslim or a non-Muslim. He is Bangladeshi. He has no business to come to India unless he has a visa. He has no business to live here unless he has a resident permit. He has no business to work here unless he has a work permit.”

Did one hear right? Does Chidambaram really mean business? Has New Delhi finally woken up to grim realities and changed its mind and tune? Are happy days here again for the picturesque, though largely neglected North-East? Or, should one dismiss this as another ploy to hoodwink the ‘asli Bharatvaasi’ and the Supreme Court on the Union Government’s lackadaisical attitude to protect the North-East from “external aggression”.

Last week, the Apex Court sharply rapped the Centre for making little progress in issuing multi-purpose national citizen cards and fencing the border. It also sought details about the tribunals’ set-up under the Foreigners Act and the number of illegal migrants deported from Assam and other parts of the country.

Either way one looks at this, it is the first time that any Congress Home Minister has talked of the menace -- of illegal migrants, over 25 million illegal Bangladeshis, without communalizing the issue. If he genuinely intends eradicating this scourge he needs to be applauded and supported.

Paradoxically, even as all the parties swear by secularism, competition for the minority votebank has consistently communalised the issue. Most parties have recklessly imported them to inflate their vote banks. Bypassing the ugly reality that illegal migrants have completely changed Assam’s demographic landscape, threatened the livelihood and the identity of the indigenous people.

Recall, after the Supreme Court struck down the Illegal Migrants (Detection by Tribunal) Act (IMDT), which was brazenly pro-migrant and prejudicial to the interests of the genuine Assamese, in 2005 the UPA Government amended the Foreigners Act to woo the minorities (read Muslims). Unlike in the case of the rest of the country, wherein the onus of proof of not being an illegal migrant is on the accused foreigner, the changed law shifted the burden of proof in the case of Assam from the accused to the complainant, as under the IMDT Act.

What has brought about the welcome change now in the Government’s speak? The recent terror attacks and its serious security implications whereunder various anti-India outfits, specially Pakistan’s ISI, are increasingly using Bangladesh as its base to infiltrate terror into India in the garb of migrants. With no method of differentiating between a militant and an immigrant a grave security threat is posed. 

Not only that. There are over 200 ISI camps operating across the border. The ISI has sent many Bangladeshis to undergo training as saboteurs in Pakistan. According to RAW sources, the ISI has unleashed “Operation PINCODE” to bring the entire North East under Islamic rule. With Bangladesh in the throes of a low-key Talibanization, this spells double trouble. Stated a senior defence official, “The situation is more serious on our eastern border than on the western front."

This is borne out by the 42-page report of former Governor of Assam, Lt Gen SK Sinha in March 1998 to the then President KR Narayanan. He stated: “Demographic changes are eroding the socio-religious fabric, bases and sanctuaries are mushrooming for trans-border support for secessionist and separatist insurgency movements. With 6000 Bangladeshis daily crossing the border, the environment is conducive to the seeding and development of local bases for the ISI and Al Qaeda who are working for the disintegration of India.”

Worse. “The long cherished design of Greater Bangladesh making inroads into the strategic land link of Assam with the rest of India can lead to severing the entire land mass of the North-East from the rest of the country.” As things stand today, the scale of infiltration is such that eight districts of Assam have Bangladeshi Muslim majority. Over 85% of the total encroached forest land is with Bangladeshis and 50 of the 126 Assembly Constituencies are their stronghold.

According to intelligence reports, “In the 70 years between 1901 and 1971, Assam’s population increased from 3.29 million to 14.6 million – a 343.77 % increase” over a period when the population of India went up by only about 150 per cent! Further, the Muslim growth rate in areas bordering Bangladesh was more than 60 per cent compared to the districts far away, where the growth rate varied between 30 and 50 per cent (1971-1991). Clearly, this unnatural growth is a byword for illegal migrants

Seven districts of Bihar, the North East and Rajasthan have been affected as a result of large-scale illegal migration. Even the Union Capital has over 5 lakhs and Maharashtra over 50,000 illegal Bangladeshi migrants. Tripura is a tragic example of the obliteration of the local identity. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too, illegal Bangladeshis have taken full advantage of our lax laws to secure ration cards. From rag pickers to domestic help, agriculture workers to rickshaw-pullers et al are mostly Bangladeshis.

Importantly, the time has come to make a clear distinction between the genuine Indian and the Bangladeshi migrants. True, the Home Minister has minced no words of crying a halt to the influx from across the border, detect and deport the illegal migrants. But he would require the support of the entire polity.

For starters, the Home Ministry needs to come out with a White Paper disclosing the harsh facts and spelling out the Government’s plans to combat it. For this, the Centre would need to adopt a two-pronged strategy:  Those with ration cards and those who have sneaked into the voters list should be asked to produce their birth certificates and proofs of lineage. Today most Bangladeshis flaunt ration cards to avoid deportation.

Two, all bonafide citizens must be issued multi-purpose identity cards to establish their Indian identity. If necessary, Bangladeshis could be issued work permits for two years. With a firm rider: no voting rights and no permanent settlement. North Block also needs to look at its immigration laws and plug the loopholes.

From the long term point of view, our politicians will have to cry a halt to vote-bank politics. Easier said than done, given that power and politicians are indivisible. But they need to realize that in matters of national security there is no place for communal agendas or narrow sectarian politics. In practical terms, the need of the hour is strict policing and border management.

Fencing the border is not the answer as the BDR immediately removes the barbed wire. Local people need to be recruited for policing along the 4,990 kms porus border. The fact is that if one cannot stop infiltrators at the border, then there is no way one can push them back. Crucial in view of Dhaka’s refusal time and again to admit that any of its nationals have illegally migrated to India.

Is the Government capable of defusing this powder keg?  Mere assurances of being pro-active will no longer do. It may be necessary to launch a series of major offensives to drive home the message to the illegal immigrants.  The need of the hour is to understand the seriousness, deal assertively with the issues and set up time-bound measures once and for all. Clearly, it is time to bell the big fat cat of illegal migrants. ----INFA

 (Copyright India News and Feature Alliance)