72,000 absconding Bangladeshis

It is indeed a matter of grave concern that of the 91,609 persons declared as foreigners who had illegally entered Assam after 1971, as many as 72,486 have been absconding. These 91,609 persons – all Bangladeshi infiltrators – were detected by various Foreigners Tribunals in Assam between 1985 and 2018. The Assam Police have definitely failed in its duty in ensuring that these people were taken into custody immediately after the Tribunals declared them as illegal migrants or foreigners. While infiltration from Bangladesh as also from erstwhile East Pakistan has been Assam’s biggest problem in the post-Independence era, one must always keep in mind the fact that the Supreme Court of India, while striking down the notorious Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983 in 2005, had described Bangladeshi influx to Assam as a silent external invasion. There is no denying the fact that these infiltrators – irrespective of their faith – have caused irreparable damage to Assam on various fronts. The most important damage is the demographic change. Great patriotic leaders like Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi and his colleagues had saved Assam from becoming part of East Pakistan when the British had proposed to club her in Group C at the time of Partition. But this silent invasion which is definitely part of a larger design of Pakistan and pro-Pakistani forces, has already turned at least ten Assam districts into Muslim-majority districts. Likewise, the Bengali-speaking population is also on the increase in Assam, courtesy the combined strength of the Muslim and Hindu Bangladeshi infiltrators, all of whose mother tongue is Bengali. Then comes the threat to national security. Large number of members and activists of Islamic terrorist groups have been operating from Bangladesh and Pakistan who were arrested in Assam in the past two or three decades belong to such areas where the majority population are of East Pakistan or Bangladesh origin. One must recall then Assam governor Gen SK Sinha’s report sent to the President of India in 1998, in which he had very clearly mentioned that the day was not far away when these infiltrators, on attaning majority, would demand merger of Assam’s border districts with Bangladesh. Gen Sinha had also expressed apprehension that these infiltrators would one day cause portions of Assam’s western portions to severe from mainland India, thus cutting off the Northeast altogether from the country. There is also this damage caused to indigenous tribal communities if Assam by way of massive encroachment of tribal blocks and belts that are supposed to be reserved for the tribal communities like Bodo, Rabha, Tiwa, Mising and so on. Majority of the encroachers in Assam’s reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands, rivers and National Parks are Bangladeshi infiltrators. It was only about two years ago that the present government had evicted a number of suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators from Kaziranga National Park.

It is sad that certain groups and individuals in Assam have always shown strong sympathy towards these illegal migrants from Bangladesh. While some intellectuals have, from the beginning of the Assam agitation launched by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) way back in 1979, have been taking a stand that there has been no infiltration whatsoever from East Pakistan and Bangladesh, there is a new breed of self-styled activists who, instead of showing concern for the indigenous communities who are under threat from the infiltrators, have been showing sympathy and expressing support to the infiltrators themselves. There have been instances when at least one person declared as an illegal infiltrator from Bangladesh and expelled to his country had contested elections in Assam. This has been very clearly put on record by the Gauhati High Court. It will not be a surprise of one finds Bangladeshi infiltrators making their way into the security forces including the Indian Army, not to speak of the Assam Legislative Assembly and Parliament. There is one group of people who raise such a hue and cry when a person is served a notice on suspicion. Instead of helping the authorities, the Tribunals, the courts of law and the government detect the infiltrators, these people are out to protect the infiltrators. These individuals and groups are also out to put hurdles in preparation of a flawless National Register of Citizens. Such individuals and groups should be brought under the scanner of the Supreme Court, the Gauhati High Court as well as the intelligence agencies. Simultaneously, the government must take step to apprehend all the 72,486 Bangladeshi infiltrators who have been absconding. Many of them must have spread across to different states of the country. A country-wide alert needs to be issued in order to arrest them and throw them back to the country where they had come from.