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In the ongoing assembly
elections in Assam (March-April 2011), one of the issues which was
whipped up by BJP was about the Bengali speaking people especially
the Muslims of Assam. Most of the Bengali speaking Muslims are
projected to be from Bangla Desh, and the communal parties and
groups are using this myth to enhance their political capital, which
is mostly based on spreading hate against minorities and bringing to
fore the issues related to identity. In different parts of India
also, the issue of Bengali Muslims has been raised too often.
The
Bengali speaking Muslims, Bangladeshis and also those from West
Bengal, are projected to be Bangladeshis, and are presented to be
threat to security. This point was raised time and over again in the
acts of terror committed in recent years by the gang of Sadhvi
Prgaya Singh Thakur to Aseemanand types belonging to Abhinav Bharat,
Sanatan Sansthan etc. Many a time Bangladeshi groups were named in
these acts of terror done by Hindutva groups and their connection
with local Bangladeshis was propagated to the hilt. In Assam the
issue of Bengali speaking Muslims has been brought up time and over
again and this point has also been used at the time of elections to
polarize the communities along religious lines.
On the contrary, many a Muslims, especially Bengali speaking one’s,
irrespective of their prolonged stay in Assam, have been labeled as
D voters, i.e. Doubtful voters and are not allowed to vote. The
mechanism to prove that you are a bona- fide citizen lies on these
hapless poor, who have been waiting for years to get this D category
removed from their names. BJP has been arguing that Congress is
shifting the Bangladeshis to the areas where they need to increase
their voting percentage. One recalls that a massive anti Muslim
pogrom was unleashed in Nellie in 1983. That time a tribe was
instigated to massacre the Muslims on the ground that Bangladeshis
have voted in the election and nearly 5000 Muslims were done to
death. This issue of ‘Bangladeshi Muslims’ has also been electorally
encashed by All Assam Students Union, which has been infiltrated and
supported by RSS.
As such the issue of Bengali speaking Muslims has been very vexed
and has a long history. Once the British annexed Assam in 1826, they
saw this area as a potential one where the neighboring overpopulated
Bengali people can be planted. They started a ‘Human Plantation
program’, as per which the Bengalis, who were having land pressure
and crowding in undivided Bengal, were encouraged to come to Assam
and a large number of those who came to Assam were Muslims from
Bengal. They worked hard to develop the land and agriculture in
Assam. They were hard working and contributed massively to the
development of Assam.
The issue became complicated with partition of India by the British.
With partition tragedy many Hindus migrated to neighboring states.
Later during the repression of East Pakistan by Pakistani army many
a people fled East Pakistan and some of them did come to Assam. Most
of these were Hindus. The process had other side also with the rise
of communal politics in Assam, nearly 6 lakh Assamese, Muslims, also
migrated to Bangla Desh.
In other parts of India also many a people from Bangla Desh migrated
mainly due to economic reasons. In Mumbai and Delhi communalists
raised the bogey of Bangladeshis as a security threat. Citizen’s
inquiry committees, comprising of noted Human rights activists
investigated the issue of Bangladeshi ‘threat’ in Mumbai in
particular. One such investigation done by Shama Dalvai and Irfan
Engineer pointed out that the number of Bangladeshis, which is
claimed to be 3 Lakhs in Mumbai holds no water. As such it is
difficult to estimate their number but rough estimate can go to
20000 of them in Mumbai. Most of these Bangladeshis are involved in
painstaking Zari embroidery work and their women folk work as house
maids, at atrociously low wages. Their living conditions are
cramped, near gutters and in outskirts of suburbs. Most of their
time is spent in making the two ends meet with great amount of
difficulty.
Similar is the situation in the other metros, especially Delhi,
where also the communalists have tried to use this phenomenon to
their political advantage. One does observe that migrations, legal
and illegal, to supposedly ‘greener pastures’ is the trend amongst
the poor and those trying to climb the social ladders to higher
levels. In India itself we see innumerable people from Nepal and
many a Tibetans have been given asylum. We also observe that many an
Indians had migrated to Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, US
and UK in particular. The migration to later two countries is a
dream for many. The idea behind such migrations is purely social and
economic, to overcome the misery and deprivation or to latch on to
upwardly mobile channel.
Tragically this issue has been used for the politics of communal
divide. In Assam the British did pursue the policy of divide and
rule, as in other places in Assam also they tried to put Hindus
against Muslims. With the Human plantation program in 19th Century,
the local Assamese were not very happy, and British encouraging
Hindu camp versus Muslim camp added to the problem. Later British
also tried to draw the physical ‘Line System’ trying to make people
settle in separate localities according to their religion. This
added to the worsening of the problem of inter religious community
divide. Added on to this there is a geographical aspect adding to
the problem. The mighty river Brahmaputra keeps changing its course
too often. Those settled on the banks have to leave their home and
hearth looking for new place for survival. Those displaced are
generally amongst the poor and that adds to the issue, they are
mostly labeled as Bangladeshi immigrants.
There is an urgent need to look into the communal issue in Assam.
The D voter system is contributing to massive dissatisfaction
amongst the people. It is also a very poor state, needing to be put
on the rails of development. Such irritants created by historical
circumstances and geographical compulsions are used for political
gains by some. We need to bring in affirmative action to cultivate
the spirit of fraternity amongst all the people of Assam; we need to
counter the false propaganda about religious communalists to
cultivate the sense of inclusive society all over to ensure that the
path for progress and struggle for human rights is pursued
relentlessly.
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