Why Forget the Migrants?

The watermark of our diplomacy appears to be forgetting to talk about the most vital issues in bilateral exchanges with neighbouring countries. We are aware of over 40 rounds of talks between India and Bangladesh during which the large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh to India never got mentioned even once. The latest visit of Prime Minister rendra Modi to Bangladesh has been no different. Here is someone who had declared in his pre-election speeches that after May 16, 2014 the Bangladeshis in India would have to pack up and leave. Instead, what have we had? Our Prime Minister handed over the land in some of our enclaves to Bangladesh (under a land exchange agreement of the UPA government) but did not mention the issue  of illegal migration from Bangladesh to Assam (or India) even once. By now, we have a situation in Assam where about ten of our districts have a Bangladeshi majority. Is this vital issue never going to be taken up between India and Bangladesh officially? What kind of diplomatic etiquette are our leaders practising if the most vital demographic issue affecting our country cannot be mentioned in bilateral talks? Why do we even need diplomatic relations between neighbouring countries if even our Prime Minister is uble to raise a burning issue like large-scale illegal migration in the course of bilateral talks?

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