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In a deliberate attempt to insult
the genuine Muslim inhabitants of Assam, a group of
‘intellectuals’ in New Delhi, demanded to declare alleged ‘influx
from Bangladesh’ a national problem.
Much to their humiliation, most of
the genuine Muslim residents of Assam are branded as ‘illegal
migrants’ by a group of people who gained fame by banking on
Muslim bashing.
Such one-sided discussion would add
fuel to the fire, rather than solving the problem, argued other
intellectuals who are also the stakeholders in the issue.
At a national seminar on ‘Conflict
in Bodoland, Issue of Influx and Land Alienation in Assam:
Problems and Perspectives’ organised by All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU)
held in New Delhi on 8th November, speakers gave the impression
that so-called ‘illegal influx’ from Bangladesh is the only major
problem this country has today.
Some of the speakers were former
‘policy-makers’, who were directly or indirectly involved in
affairs of Assam in the past. Participants included former Home
Secretary GK Pillai, former Special Director of Intelligence
Bureau (IB) RN Ravi, former Governor of Assam and Jammu and
Kashmir Lt General (retd), SK Sinha, former General Officer
Commander Four Corp Lt General (retd), DB Shekatkar and BJP Rajya
Sabha MP and columnist Chandan Mitra— most of them have negative
track record dealing with sensitive Muslim issues during their
service tenures or while expressing views in public through pen or
speech.
The seminar presided over by Sanjoy
Hazarika was also addressed by adviser of All Assam Students Union
(AASU) Samujjal Bhattacharya, ABSU president Pramod Bodo,
journalists Samudra Gupta Kashyap and Nitin Gokhale and founder
president of SARHAD, Sanjay Nahar.
The one-sided handling of the seminar in the national capital
indicates how the recent mass exodus and rioting in the BTAD of
Assam, where till date thousands of innocent people remained
captive in the make-shift camps, might have been influenced by
people from out of Assam. National media partly reported about
Muslim witch-hunts by heavily armed Bodo groups in far off
villages in an attempt to cleansing the desired land area for a
future Bodoland state in July-August this year, including sporadic
retaliatory violence from Bengali speaking Muslim minority.
It is noteworthy that another 25-30
thousand 1993-94 Kokhrajhar riot victims in the same BTAD have yet
to get shelter let alone justice. Their despair finds no end owing
to the national and international apathy even after 19 years.
The rule of India’s saffron brigade
vis-à-vis Assam’s NRC and D-voter issue — rather all insurgent and
communally sensitive northeastern issues, needs serious
introspection by the office bearing people in India’s policy
making bodies. The Bharatya Janata Party (BJP), through its
tattered communal agenda is creating pro-Christian noises in case
of Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur. This is because the
states gradually acquired a Christian majority, and then it played
up Islamophobia with Assam, for Muslims are a major chunk – 31 per
cent in the state’s population, yet the party is losing ground in
northeast – Assam’s last Assembly election can be an example. It
should be imperative for the BJP to find stirring issues such as
purported illegal Bangladeshi influx in Assam bringing its direct
volunteers such as Sangh Parivar or indirect assistants such as
named above in to the work field before 2014 general election.
Very recently Assam Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi said in New Delhi that the trend of migration from
neighbouring Bangladesh has declined since 1991. Following the
BTAD violence he has even questioned, “…where are the Bangladeshis
in Assam…help identify them for prosecution…’’ before the media in
Guwahati.
In New Delhi he said that his
government was "neither over-playing nor down-playing" the issue
of migration from Bangladesh but wanted to put the factual
position in public domain.
"I am also against foreigners. But
in the name of foreigners, no genuine Indian should be harassed,"
said the Chief Minister.
In some cases a person is declared
D-Voter (doubtful) in the electoral roll and barred from using his
democratic rights whereas his both mother and father are genuine
voters. In a single family father and one son are government
employees but on their face a slap of being D-Voter is tagged – an
abusive humiliation only those going through it can imagine the
impact.
State government and several reports
have contended that illegal migration in Assam is not as rampant
as propagated by a section of anti Muslim group. “Bringing
Bangladeshi angle to Assames ethnic conflict is disservice to the
nation”, writes V.K. Tripathi, professor of IIT Delhi. Similarly
Prof. Ram Puniyani argues, ‘tendentious comments about Bangladeshi
immigration fueled violence in Assam.’
Another celebrated writer and
historian Amaresh Misra went down into the pages of history and
brought about the facts which testified that Muslim influx from
Bangladesh in Assam in the post partitioned India is a hoax. He
elaborated his argument starting from 12th century down to the
recent ethnic conflict in his article ‘Assam violence: the very
idea of India is under threat’ and blames the Sangh Privar and its
political wing Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) for the unrest in Assam
and Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD).
The author is a Mumbai
based Assamese native and editor of English monthly Eastern
Crescent. He can be reached at mb.qasmi@gmail.com
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