Assam: Courting Trouble with Illegal Migrants -Col Ashwani Gupta
E-Mail-ashwanigupta@hotmail.com
The Chief Minister of Assam gave impetus to the sensitive issue of migrants status last month when he declared that his government will approach the Central Government for granting refugee status to those people who entered the state from the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) due to religious persecution. He stated that the case was being taken up on humanitarian basis and it was up to the Centre to grant refugee status or citizenship to the affected persons. The proposal is again likely to bring to the forefront, the decades long demand of the local people who have been vocal opponents of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The timing of the announcement is a suspect with general elections barely six months away, once again raising apprehensions of courting the migrants before the general elections. One of the major reasons for non-resolution of the issue has been political unwillingness fearing instant loss of a sizeable vote bank.
The issue of migration dates back to British policy of the land system, implemented in 1920 when the government encouraged migration of Muslim peasants for working in tea gardens. The Independence in 1947 and subsequent liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 led to large scale displacement and migration of both Hindu and Muslim families to Assam and other neighbouring states. India’s 4097 km long porous border with Bangladesh, cultural and religious similarity of people across the international boundary and better job prospects has provided an opportunity to millions of Bangladeshi citizens to illegally cross over into states of Assam, West Bengal and Tripura. This illegal migration has led to a perceptible shift in the demographic patterns across the state of Assam. The population of Assam has increased from 80 lakh in 1951 to 266 lakh in 2001 with the Muslim population increasing from 24.68 per cent to 30 per cent in 2001. The increase in Muslim population from 24.68 per cent to 30 per cent corresponds to increase of almost 14 lakh persons in the population of 266 lakh. Also, the population of Assam further increase to 312 lakh in 2011, an increase of 46 lakh persons in ten years, though no religion based data is available from the 2011 census. The maximum population growth of over 20 per cent compared to 2001 census has been recorded in nine districts which have had higher percentage of Muslim population. Today, nine districts out of 27 districts in Assam have Muslim majority population with an ability to influence almost 40 per cent seats in the state assembly. The immigrants have been courted by all the political parties and their patronage has enabled the immigrants to acquire identity documents like voter and ration cards and become Indian citizens. This has led to a sharp demographic shift in favour of the migrant population and made the migrants a dominant political force in the state resulting in the progressive marginalisation of the smaller indigenous communities. The Madhav Godbole Committee Report of 2000 on Border Management had stated that about 15 million illegal migrants from Bangladesh were residing in India with large numbers crossing over on a daily basis and settling in border districts of Dhubri, Golpara and Karimganj in Assam.
The steady influx of migrants led to agitation by the All Assam Student Union (AASU) in 1979 demanding deportation of all illegal migrants from Assam. The ensuing period was marked with political instability and numerous incidents of violence which further deepened the fissures within the society already divided on communal lines. The passing of the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal), IMDT Act in 1983 during the rule of Hiteshwar Saikia gave a reprieve to the migrants as the onus of proving the citizenship of the suspected illegal migrant rested on the complainant instead of the suspect as applicable under the provisions of Foreigners Act of 1946. The IMDT Act was applicable only in Assam which fueled the apprehensions of the locals seeking deportation of illegal migrants. The tribunals were only been able to identify and declare 12,424 as illegal migrants and deport 1481 migrants till the Act was repealed by the Supreme Court in 2005 even though the strength of illegal migrants was way much higher than the deported number. In comparison, West Bengal had deported 4,89,046 persons in fifteen years since 1983 under the foreigners Act. The Prafulla Mahanta government in Assam also failed to take any decisive action against the IMDT Act after coming to power in 1985 even though deportation of illegal migrants was the major cause of agitation by AASU. This was a firm indicator of the local political compulsions to court the migrant population.
As per the Assam Accord, all persons who had illegally entered Assam after 24 March 1971 were to be deported. The unusual provisions of the IMDT Act have enabled a large segment of migrants to stay back and form a sizeable vote bank for the local politicians. The revision of electoral rolls has not been carried out since 1971 by successive governments which have made identification of the illegal migrants a difficult and time consuming task. The announcement by Tarun Gogoi to seek refugee status for a section of illegal migrants may once again create turmoil within the society in the run-up to the elections. Though the statement by the chief minister did not find any vocal opposition from other political parties, it is likely to unleash another period of insecurity in the state between Muslims and other communities. An observation by the Guwahati High Court in 2005 that Bangladeshi migrants have become kingmakers may once again hold true in the coming elections and further delay any planned resolution of the migrant problem.
The author is a Senior Fellow at CLAWS-Views expressed are personal
No comments:
Post a Comment