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Uncertain future

There is no denying the fact that Assam has a large number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Now a debate…

Uncertain future

Representational image (Photo: Getty Images)

There is no denying the fact that Assam has a large number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Now a debate is on at the national level on their future. It should be noted that India identifies every foreigner with the base year of 1951.

During the six-year (1979-1985) Assam students’ movement against illegal migration, as many as 850 people lost their lives. The movement ended with the All Assam Students’ Union signing the historic Assam Accord with the Rajiv Gandhi government on 15 August 1985.

Then the Asom Gana Parishad was formed, which became an influential regional political party. The Congress government headed by Hiteswar Saikia was made to step down and in the December 1985 assembly elections, the AGP captured as many as 69 of the 126 seats and formed a government headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

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It ruled the state twice (1985- 1990) and (1996-2001), but during those periods, the AGP made no serious attempts to implement the Illegal Migration (Determination by Tibunals) Act, 1983 and soon started losing its traditional support bases. A controversy over the cut-off year for detecting foreigners in Assam put the party in serious trouble. Though it claimed there were lakhs of illegal migrants, all that it could achieve was to detect a handful and deport them. During the 15 years of the Congress rule, the AGP became a mere shadow of itself. After playing second fiddle to the BJP, it is now an ally of the ruling BJP government headed by Sarbananda Sonowal.

While the historic Assam Accord justified detecting foreigners with the base year of 1971, the debate now gains momentum in favour of 1951 as the cut-off year. The Assam Sanmilita Mahasanga, which recently knocked the door of the Supreme Court over the matter, has raised the issue. It was later supported by the Indigenous Tribal People’s Front, All Assam Ahom Association and Purbotar Hindustani Sanmelan in its efforts to endorse 1951 as the cut-off year.

Recently, the Assam Public Works, Prabrajan Virodhi Mancha and Patriotic People’s Front Assam came out in favour of 1951.The logic is simple — that the historic students’ movement itself was run with the spirit of 1951 as the base year. All the martyrs of the movement, starting with Khargeswar Talukder, sacrificed their lives not for a new base year for deportation of illegal migrants. But the accord states that only those who entered Assam before 25 March 1971 would be granted Indian citizenships.

The Aasu says it is determined to honour the accord. The state units of the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, All India United Democratic Front, Congress along with the AGP also endorsed the Aasu stand that 25 March 1971 should be the cut-off year for identification and deportation of illegal migrants under the Accord’s provision.

In a statement, the PPFA has said that 25 March 1971 was never the birth of Bangladesh, rather the country was born after 16 December1971 only when the Pakistani forces under the command of General Niazi surrendered to the Mukti Joddhas (forces of Bangladesh freedom struggle). Sheikh Mujibur Rahman only declared the independence of Bangladesh in the late hours of 25 March 1971. Hence, the forum argued, all migrants, who entered Assam till 16 December 1971, should be identified as East Pakistani nationals.

Understanding the gravity of the situation caused by “millions” of East Pakistanis and later Bangladeshi nationals in Assam, the forum also urged the Centre to think in terms of offering work permits (without voting rights) to those settlers in case their deportation becomes impossible on humanitarian grounds.

Reiterating its old stand, the PPF has also appealed that the Assam government support 1951 as the base year, as the case is presently in the apex court’s jurisdiction. Arguing strongly to deport immigrants from Bangladesh, who came after 16 December 1971, the forum urged New Delhi to hold diplomatic consultations with the Bangladeshi government.

Expressing anger over the reluctance shown by New Delhi to address the burning issue, the forum, however, expressed the hope that a friendly regime led by Sheikh Hasina would respond to the issue positively.

In another relevant aspect, the PPFA commented that once Parliament passes the Citizenship Amendment Bill, all Hindu, Buddhist and Christian refugees should be rehabilitated with equal distribution across the country. Among them, those who prefer to stay legally in Assam should adopt Assamese language as their medium of instruction, asserted the statement.

The forum earlier appreciated the Centre for proposing to amend the Citizenship Act for granting citizenship to all victims of religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. At the same time, the forum expressed resentment that some individuals and organisations in Assam had tried to communalise the issue, instead of helping to find an amicable solution for those affected people.

It said, “We are from this land of glorious civilisation and culture and we feel that our spirit should be that of accommodation of Hindu, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and other religious minorities who have had to face extreme suppression in erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and also West Pakistan and have been the true victims of partition.”

It continued that “history bears witness to the fact that Muslims of undivided India, that followed the ideology of the Muslim League and who wanted a separate homeland for the Muslims, were granted Pakistan and thus they became foreigners to Indians.

“In fact, the moment they created a foreign land for themselves they lost their right to get into India again without passports or related legal documents. So, in post-15 August 1947 India, all those who demanded and chose to live in Pakistan (including East Pakistan) were legally foreigners.

“However, history is also witness to the fact that the minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists who were left behind in Pakistan were facing brutal suppression at the hands of the new non-secular government, which prompted the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to issue a historic statement in Parliament that non-Muslims would be safe and secure in Pakistan as both the new nations pledged to be good and friendly neighbours. Nehru also declared that if non-Muslims felt unsafe and insecure in Pakistan due to religious or communal persecutions in future, they would be always welcome in India.

“We are also fully aware that since the formation of Bangladesh and the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, the country made Islam the state religion setting into motion the persecution of minority non-Muslims. All these people became the victims of the Pakistan Plan and Partition and had to live in a foreign land, for the creation of which they were not at all responsible.

“It may be noted that in Bangladesh, the Hindus include Bengali, Rajbongshi, Hajong, Adivasi, Jayantiya and Bishnupriya communities, Buddhists (represented by Chakmas) and some Assamese people also, who fled to the Chittagong Hill areas during the Burmese invasion. The Christians include Bengali, Garo, Khasi and Adivasi people. Under no circumstances could these people should be termed as foreigners, as they are the actual victims of Partition, and came to India to save their lives, religions and cultures.”

The issue of foreigners in Assam thus lingers on for decades and the people remain sceptical about any initiative taken by the authorities. One wonders why the students of Assam had to start a movement to deport aliens when it was the responsibility of the Centre to do so. It is also difficult to digest how Assamese society and intellectuals agreed to an accord with no debates.

The writer is The Statesman’s special representative in Guwahati

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