I don't always agree with Sanjoy Hazarika's views, but this is a
very fine one.
Thoughtful and wise.
cm
At 7:27 AM +0000 5/24/05, Bartta Bistar wrote:
NORTH by NORTH EAST: SMS on Bangladeshis
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=14&theme=&usrsess=1&id=77736
SANJOY HAZARIKA
The SMS went like this: “Save nation, save identity. Let’s take an oath … no food, no job, no shelter to a Bangladeshi. Start a complete economic blockade to illegal immigrants.” This SMS is the hottest message going around Upper Assam where a systematic campaign against alleged Bangladeshis has sent hundreds of people fleeing to other parts of the state. While a large number of Bengali-speaking Muslims dominate those who have left, the exodus has also included Bengali Hindus. A call from an unknown neighbourhood group in Dibrugarh, Assam’s second largest city after Guwahati, known as the Chiring Sapori Yuva Mancha, seems to have had an escalating effect on what most people in Assam describe as the “Bangladeshi problem”.
Without overt violence – but with reports of intimidation – busloads of people have left Dibrugarh town and Jorhat district without a clear destination. Those who have forced their departure are sure that they are Bangladeshis but even the proportion of those who are truly illegal is unclear; simply because they have Muslim names and their dress is such that they could be from Lower Assam or across the border. The local media went ballistic: the Assamese language papers with photos and reporters at various vantage points talked about the exodus with little disguised glee. Litterateurs, lawyers and scholars lent their support to the campaign. Reporters and editors in the English language media patted themselves on the back for having flagged the issue and launched a diatribe against what is loosely defined as a “demographic invasion of Assam”.
Every day brought fresh reports of Bangladeshis being discovered, of three lakh being the resident Bangladeshi population of Guwahati and so on. On what basis were these figures assessed? What is the database, what is the research?
The campaign has begun with less than a year to go for statewide elections and the Congress, is clearly the biggest loser in the bargain as it cannot be seen to be as both protecting “Bangladeshis” and also its own minority vote-bank.
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Most figures for Bangladeshi settlers are largely extrapolations and guesstimates based on census data, the National Registrar of Citizens and wild guesses or material derived from government (“Intelligence” or “security” sources who get their material from the media or from their own channels). There are those who insist that they are right. The issue of international migration and specifically that of movement across the India-Bangladesh border is serious, because it involves questions not just of nationality but also of local rights, political, economic and social spaces. It could even qualify as a non-conventional threat to security because though the outflow is largely economic-driven, acquisition and settlement of lands and even forest lands over these past decades has led to growing internal insecurity and conflicts. Then there are militant armed groups from Assam and Meghalaya which continue to be based in Bangladesh.
The issue has left much violence, bitterness and restlessness in Assam, a result of the anti-foreigner movement of the 1980s, and remains the unresolved agenda. We must caution against is the growth of hatred towards other ethnic or religious groups which could create an escalation of tension. The campaign has put that champion of the anti-migrant drive, the All Assam Students’ Union, which has made the issue its principal platform for decades, also on the backfoot.
Administration baffled
The district administration and the state government are nonplussed: there has been no violence, so action cannot be taken against the campaign organisers. The objective is also non-objectionable: it involves strengthening citizens’ rights. What has to be prevented is tampering with the law and the growth of vigilantism. Government should be taking such action, not non-government groups. The government has failed. There are also several unclear areas: many of those who left, apparently, were seasonal brick kiln workers who go when the monsoon approaches and the kilns shut shop. Had they been coming for years and had no one noticed? How did the various groups “detect” the Bangladeshis: surely, it is not written on anyone’s face, that they are Indians or Pakistanis or Bangladeshis. We can play some guessing games. But an issue as serious as this cannot be done on guesswork although one is sure that those behind the new campaign have done their homework, especially in terms of the law and the rights issue.
Another question arises: If some of these people are residents of other parts of Assam and not foreign nationals, then this has been a travesty of their basic rights as citizens of this country. This is why the campaign must be reviewed and thought through calmly. The Supreme Court has held that all residents of India – citizens or not – are entitled to basic human rights. Returning to the question of a “demographic invasion” and the question of infiltration: the census of India for 2001 shows that Assam’s decadal population growth, after years of being ahead of the rest of India, actually dipped below the national average. There are those who will decry the census as being incomplete. But internationally, our census is regarded as among the best in the world – along with the election process. Of course, there is a movement of people from across the border. One has mapped this from Bangladesh into Assam, physically, in my book, Rites of Passage. This is undeniable. But the question is how many are coming and how is it to be tackled? How are local rights to be protected and assured of political sustainability? It should be clear also that infiltration, used so frequently in the media, is a security term, defining situations where agents are sent behind “enemy lines” to conduct sabotage and disinformation. Is this the case here? Who is conducting the violence in Assam: isn’t it our own armed groups?
A National Immigration Commission which looks at all these issues, the need of identity cards for all Indians and work permits for Bangladeshis that enables them short stays for unskilled occupations but does not give them legal entitlements to land or votes (as illegals and their agents are having now!) are keys to future settlement. The public awareness which exists is critical for this process.
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