Sh. R K Mattoo

R K Mattoo  

Illegal migration into Assam from Bangladesh has been posing a serious security threat to the Country in General and to the identity of Assamese people in particular. It has already adversely affected the social, economic and political environment of Assam besides creating law and order problems where immigrants are present in large number. The flow of immigrants which was supposed to have stopped after 1971, continues till date due to various pull and push factors. The deportation of illegal migrants was never taken up seriously due to the lack of strong law and political will, as illegal migrants are being used

as a vote bank by different political parties. The data provided in the study indicates that if necessary steps are not taken immediately, Assam would lose its identity from the map of India very soon besides reducing the Assamese people to a minority in their own State, as happened in Tripura and Sikkim..

Therefore it is high time that India takes stringent measures against the illegal migrants who have become a real threat to the security of the country. Migration from Bangladesh to the Northeast region of India has been continuous throughout the twentieth century due to the reason of historical links, geographical and physical proximity. The better employment opportunities and availability of fertile agricultural land in Assam act as a pull factor while the poverty, subsistence living, ravages caused by floods and other natural calamities in Bangladesh act as push factors It is important to know that an illegal migrant is a person who crosses an international boundary and without any valid document, enters into another country for the purpose of carrying on any illegal or antisocial activities in that country or for other economic or political purposes Illegal migrants have been defined in Assam Accord as those who infiltrated illegally after 24 December 1971. However, the stream that

infiltrated illegally between 1st January 1966 and 24 December 1971 was not to be deported and was to be given Indian citizenship after a lapse of ten years.

India agreed to take the responsibility of all migrants who entered India on or before March 24, 1971. Another pertinent reason for theinflux of Bangladeshi immigrants is the porous Indo-Bangla border.

Today the illegal immigration issue is more of a political problem as it has destabilized the region of Assam and led parties like the Congress and The

Communist Party of India to indulge in vote-bank politics. The local Assamese

youth were forced to take up matter in their hands. An anti-foreigner movement

was launched in the state in 1979 which was led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) that went on for six whole years. The movement was with the intention of stopping and deporting the illegal immigrants into Assam. This resulted in the Nellie Massacre in 1983, labeled as independent India's biggest mass uprising, wherein 3000

Bangladeshi Muslims were killed. The immediate cause of the Assam Agitation was the 1978 LokSabha election in Assam wherein 45,000 illegal Bangladeshi migrants' names were found in the voters list. The movement made 885 Assam youths "martyrs." It would not be wrong to state that the issue of illegal immigration is first and foremost a security issue for the whole of India and not just the state of Assam. It is a multi-faceted problem. The rise of Islamic

Fundamentalism, the mushrooming of mosques and madrassas along the border areas of Assam and West Bengal with Bangladesh is evidence of this security threat. Militant outfits, who support the Muslim minority train the Muslim youths who then threaten to plot terror operations against India and such activities has been on the rise. It is alarming to know that Bangladesh has refused to take back over 29,000 personsdeclared as illegal migrants by Foreigners' Tribunals since 1985, because Bangladesh does not recognize the verdicts given by India's Foreigners' Tribunals.

The liberal attitude of the Central Government and lack of a strong political will on the part of successive State Governments has resulted in unabated migration of Bangaldeshi Muslims into Assam thereby threatening the indigenous people.

Although India and Bangladesh share cordial relations, the phenomenon of illegal immigration is a thorn in their relations and unless both countries negotiate on this matter and Bangladesh agrees to cooperate, the situation will persist. In the worst case scenario, India would be compelled to use force to evict the illegal settlers leading to a big humanitarian crisis. So far, the neighboring country has refused to recognize these immigrants as Bangladeshi nationals and has opposed their deportation.As for the Indian authorities, it is high time this issue is ascribed as a national issue and given due share of importance.

The fencing work must be completed as soon as possibleand identification and deportation must be done expeditiously.Moreover, the Government must show some urgencyin the completion of the NRC update process.

DISCLAIMER:

The views expressed in the Article above are R K Mattoo’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. .

Courtesy: Spade A Spade and R K Mattoo –Editor Spade A Spade - An Official Publication of Kashmiri Hindu Cultural Welfare Trust, Bengaluru.