06-05-2005, 04:58 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Non-violent response to runaway infiltration </b>
V Satish, Northeast in-charge, BJP
What has happened recently in Dibrugarh and some other parts of Assam clearly reflects the public mood. The people are not only totally disillusioned with the Tarun Gogoi government, but are also ready to give the right answer to the criminal neglect by the Congress as far as illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi's is concerned. Unabated infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh has not only changed thedemography of Assam, but also has posed as a potential threat to the security and integrity of the country.
<b>The fate of the Assamese people was already sealed when they were told by the UPA government that the IM(DT) Act would not be repealed. As if this was not enough, the Gogoi government has been consistently undermining the threats posed by illegal infiltrators and has also denied the very existence of Bangladeshis in Assam and the ISI's network. </b>
<b>The talk of an independent Islamic state comprising the present Bangladesh and parts of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam with other north-eastern states is already there, and forces at the international level are at work to make it a reality</b>. With a totally hostile regime in Bangladesh, Indo-Bangladesh relations are at its lowest ebb, and anti-India insurgents of all hue are getting moral and logistic support from Bangladesh. Besides, the present Bangladeshi regime, by allowing north-eastern insurgent groups to set up camps for imparting arms training to their cadre, has sent a clear signal to India about its intentions. It is time we had a fresh look at the present Indo-Bangladesh relations.
The whole issue of exodus of suspected Bangladeshis was raised by an unknown organisation called Chiring Chapori Yuva Manch at Dibrugarh. At the same time, the BJP unit at Golaghat raised its voice against an alleged attack by suspected Bangladeshis on one Bihu group of local Mishing community at Merapani near the Assam-Nagaland Border. The administration tried to hush up the incident saying there were no Bangladeshis in Dibrugarh or Golaghat.
With the call for social boycott of suspected Bangladeshis and their economic blockade, the situation took a new turn. Now the movement is not confined to Dibrugarh alone, it has spread to all over Assam. This is nothing but a peaceful and democratic public resistance to drive out the illegal infiltrators by enforcing economic blockade.
<b>These incidents have come handy for Syed Sahabuddin and Golam Osmani to dub the entire movement as "anti-minority" by blaming the BJP, RSS and VHP.</b> Even the two cabinet ministers who were sent to Dibrugarh to assess the situation blamed the BJP and the Sangh parivar.
The panic reaction shown by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi only betrays the fact that the Congress is worried about its vote bank rather than the present and future of the state. And it is specifically against this callousness and vote bank politics of the power hungry Congress and its government that the patriotic and peaceful people of Assam have raised their voices.
The whole issue of unabated infiltration from Bangladesh has been discussed and described in different ways by different political parties. The UPA is silent over this serious security threat, and Congress leaders have termed this as a "human problem" echoing the views so far expressed by its allies on the Left.
They are saying that Bangladesh is a poor country and, therefore, migration is taking place due to hunger and nothing else.<b> This interpretation is not only gross over- simplification, but also crude denial of the pertinent security threats emerging out of concentration of nearly 20 million illegal settlers who have grabbed land,enrolled themselves as voters, captured several occupations and, above all, are now in a position to dictate their terms in elections in certain border areas of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.</b>
In 1998, the then Governor of Assam,Lt-Gen SK Sinha (retd), submitted a report on the large-scale infiltration and the need to repeal the IM(DT) Act,which has not delivered anything so far even after spending crores of rupees. The present Governor of Assam, Lt.-Gen. Ajay Singh (retd), has also raised his concern in a report that was supposedly submitted to the President, APJ Abdul Kalam.
The Census of 2001 has given a warning signal as far as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and few other states are concerned. It has termed Assam as the third state having a large number of people belonging to the religious minorities, mainly Muslims. In a population of 26 million, Muslims make up 30.9 per cent, and out of 26 districts, Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hailakandi and Karimganj are more than 50 per cent Muslim. Assam has recorded this rise in Muslim population, from 15.03 per cent in 1901 to 30.9 per cent in 2001.
Along with infiltration from Bangladesh, there has been remarkable rise in the activities of international Islamic fundamentalist groups operating in Assam and other north-eastern states. Nineteen such groups which have direct support of the ISI are now operating in Assam.
So, the combined effect of infiltration and armed insurgency is a matter of great concern for all right thinking people. The failure of the IM(DT) Act has not only regularised the illegal settlers, but has also created problems for those displaced persons who had to cross the border due to communal disturbances in the former East Pakistan or present day Bangladesh. Because of the IM(DT) Act, the Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act, 1950, has become infructuous.
The IM(DT) Act should be repealed in order to provide necessary safeguards to these displaced persons who were mainly Hindus. The present Assam government also wants to categorise these people as infiltrators, whereas to give them shelter was a part of our national commitment as they were the worst sufferers of the unholy partition of our motherland. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
V Satish, Northeast in-charge, BJP
What has happened recently in Dibrugarh and some other parts of Assam clearly reflects the public mood. The people are not only totally disillusioned with the Tarun Gogoi government, but are also ready to give the right answer to the criminal neglect by the Congress as far as illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi's is concerned. Unabated infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh has not only changed thedemography of Assam, but also has posed as a potential threat to the security and integrity of the country.
<b>The fate of the Assamese people was already sealed when they were told by the UPA government that the IM(DT) Act would not be repealed. As if this was not enough, the Gogoi government has been consistently undermining the threats posed by illegal infiltrators and has also denied the very existence of Bangladeshis in Assam and the ISI's network. </b>
<b>The talk of an independent Islamic state comprising the present Bangladesh and parts of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam with other north-eastern states is already there, and forces at the international level are at work to make it a reality</b>. With a totally hostile regime in Bangladesh, Indo-Bangladesh relations are at its lowest ebb, and anti-India insurgents of all hue are getting moral and logistic support from Bangladesh. Besides, the present Bangladeshi regime, by allowing north-eastern insurgent groups to set up camps for imparting arms training to their cadre, has sent a clear signal to India about its intentions. It is time we had a fresh look at the present Indo-Bangladesh relations.
The whole issue of exodus of suspected Bangladeshis was raised by an unknown organisation called Chiring Chapori Yuva Manch at Dibrugarh. At the same time, the BJP unit at Golaghat raised its voice against an alleged attack by suspected Bangladeshis on one Bihu group of local Mishing community at Merapani near the Assam-Nagaland Border. The administration tried to hush up the incident saying there were no Bangladeshis in Dibrugarh or Golaghat.
With the call for social boycott of suspected Bangladeshis and their economic blockade, the situation took a new turn. Now the movement is not confined to Dibrugarh alone, it has spread to all over Assam. This is nothing but a peaceful and democratic public resistance to drive out the illegal infiltrators by enforcing economic blockade.
<b>These incidents have come handy for Syed Sahabuddin and Golam Osmani to dub the entire movement as "anti-minority" by blaming the BJP, RSS and VHP.</b> Even the two cabinet ministers who were sent to Dibrugarh to assess the situation blamed the BJP and the Sangh parivar.
The panic reaction shown by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi only betrays the fact that the Congress is worried about its vote bank rather than the present and future of the state. And it is specifically against this callousness and vote bank politics of the power hungry Congress and its government that the patriotic and peaceful people of Assam have raised their voices.
The whole issue of unabated infiltration from Bangladesh has been discussed and described in different ways by different political parties. The UPA is silent over this serious security threat, and Congress leaders have termed this as a "human problem" echoing the views so far expressed by its allies on the Left.
They are saying that Bangladesh is a poor country and, therefore, migration is taking place due to hunger and nothing else.<b> This interpretation is not only gross over- simplification, but also crude denial of the pertinent security threats emerging out of concentration of nearly 20 million illegal settlers who have grabbed land,enrolled themselves as voters, captured several occupations and, above all, are now in a position to dictate their terms in elections in certain border areas of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.</b>
In 1998, the then Governor of Assam,Lt-Gen SK Sinha (retd), submitted a report on the large-scale infiltration and the need to repeal the IM(DT) Act,which has not delivered anything so far even after spending crores of rupees. The present Governor of Assam, Lt.-Gen. Ajay Singh (retd), has also raised his concern in a report that was supposedly submitted to the President, APJ Abdul Kalam.
The Census of 2001 has given a warning signal as far as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and few other states are concerned. It has termed Assam as the third state having a large number of people belonging to the religious minorities, mainly Muslims. In a population of 26 million, Muslims make up 30.9 per cent, and out of 26 districts, Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hailakandi and Karimganj are more than 50 per cent Muslim. Assam has recorded this rise in Muslim population, from 15.03 per cent in 1901 to 30.9 per cent in 2001.
Along with infiltration from Bangladesh, there has been remarkable rise in the activities of international Islamic fundamentalist groups operating in Assam and other north-eastern states. Nineteen such groups which have direct support of the ISI are now operating in Assam.
So, the combined effect of infiltration and armed insurgency is a matter of great concern for all right thinking people. The failure of the IM(DT) Act has not only regularised the illegal settlers, but has also created problems for those displaced persons who had to cross the border due to communal disturbances in the former East Pakistan or present day Bangladesh. Because of the IM(DT) Act, the Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act, 1950, has become infructuous.
The IM(DT) Act should be repealed in order to provide necessary safeguards to these displaced persons who were mainly Hindus. The present Assam government also wants to categorise these people as infiltrators, whereas to give them shelter was a part of our national commitment as they were the worst sufferers of the unholy partition of our motherland. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->