Why this double standard?

The word refugee literally means people who are displaced from their own home country and seeking asylum in another country. The reasons for fleeing one’s country may vary, but generally it is seen that mostly people flee from their motherland due to torture and brutalities meted out by the government.

 Presently, Rohingiya refugees fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh is making headlines. There are instances in history when Jews sought refugee status from zi-domited Germany during WW2. The displaced Jews, after being settled in barren lands of Israel post WW2, made their country a powerhouse of the world. While the issue of giving shelter to Rohingiya refugees in India has been rejected by the Central government, the opposition Congress has asked the government to look at the current plight of these people in sympathetic way.

One senior leader of APCC Abdul Khaleque, through a press meet, requested the government to show mercy to Rohingiyas by giving them shelter in India and he was even open to giving those people shelter in his constituency. But the same political party objected to giving refugee status to Hindu Bangladeshis, who too are suffering immensely at their home country. These minority Hindu Bangladeshis, too, are asking for asylum in India. But the Congress leaders are firm in their opposition to giving any shelter to these people. Why is the Congress showing such different approach between the two sets of refugees? The answer, of course, is not hard to seek as we all know the Congress party’s minority appeasement policy!

Dr. Ashim Chowdhury,

Ambari, Guwahati.