| Sentinel Assam Editorial Spril 09.04.06 Shame on the Paranoid Lot, Not the Asomiyas! J P Rajkhowa I n his daring, timely and well-argued article Are Asomiyas a Paranoid Lot? (The Sentinel, March 31), Bikash Sarmah has forcefully and very convincingly repudiated some disgraceful remarks that columnist Praful Bidwai recently made on some sections of the Asomiyas. In support of continuance of the IM(DT) Act, since struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, Bidwai writes in an article Hindutva brigade is mistaken (The Assam Tribune, March 23): Hindutva proponents think they have been gifted the Muslim appeasement plank with the restoration of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act in Asom... Consider the merits of the issue. The IM(DT) act is the sole protection that Assams minorities have against collusive attempts by a deeply hostile bureaucracy, police and influential sections of the Assamese elite who are paranoid about the State being overrun by Bangladeshis. In the Acts absence, the onus of proof that you are not a foreigner would be on you. Thered no appeal against summary deportation... I am really stunned to see the silence of the so-called famous, knowledgeable, experienced, bold and Asomiya-premi intellectuals, who have no time for expressing their reactions or comments on the motivated and distasteful observations on Asomiya psyche by an all-knowing(?) Praful Bidwai. So everyone has left it to young Bikash Sarmah to take the lead and hammer out on the ill-conceived and delusory, rather paranoid, remarks of Bidwai, with facts, arguments and the correct meanings of misused words like collusive attempts, minorities and paranoia/ paranoid. It would be better for Bidwai and the likes to know the correct meaning of words before they use the words to attack a community. It is now known that Bidwai belongs to the Marxist camp, which presently shares power at the Centre with the Congress, as part and parcel acting as a very vocal, powerful pressure group to push up their own agenda at the national level, with the distant dream of running the countrys governance. The contradictory policies the Leftists are pursuing at the national level and at the State levels, where they are in power,have clearly given them the label of opportunists smacking of double standard. While in West Bengal, they had detected and deported nearly five lakh Bangladeshi nationals, during 1983-1998 under the Foreigners Act 1946 and Foreigners (Tribunal) Order 1964, they wanted the IM(DT) Act, 1983 to continue in Assam. They are equally responsible with the Congress for the recent amendment of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order 1964, solely for application in Asom in order to detect and deport(?) illegal Bangladeshis, obviously keeping a hawkish eye on possible share from the Bangladeshi vote bank. They too, like the Congress, talk in the same language of harassment of minorities for Bangladeshis, in the absence of the IM(DT) act. What is this harassment, none of these patriotic(?) political parties or the government has cared to define or elaborate! While fully endorsing the views and arguments advanced by Bikash Sarmah on the highly objectionable statements made by Bidwai accusing the Asomiya society or a section of it for loving their motherland, by using words and phrases like collusive attempts and paranoid, I would like to put forth a few points for consumption of Bidwai and his compatriots. It is not the IM(DT) Act that protects the minorities (Muslims?) of Asom. It is the Constitution of India that safeguards the fundamental rights and other genuine interests of all Indian citizens, including the minorities. Strangely enough, Bidwai is least concerned about the interests, rights or genuine grievances concerning the life, liberty or welfare of other minorities, religious, ethnic as well as linguistic. He is also least bothered about the rights and obligations of the majority the main component of any democratic system of government. He seems to be interested in providing undue protection to the Bangladeshi minorities, just in the same way as the pseudo-secularists have been doing so long, and that too in respect of the illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which has, over the years, taken the form of silent invasion of Asom, thereby jeopardizing the demographic pattern of the State, converting the Asomiyas into a minority in ten districts already. Bidwai also appears to be not at all concerned that the illegal influx of lakhs of Bangladeshis into the country, using Asom as a corridor, has not only threatened the lives of Indian citizens, but also jeopardized the security and sovereignty of India, as observed by the Supreme Court in its July 12 verdict on the IM(DT) Act. Well, it could be due to his biased attitude towards the Asomiyas or due to his leanings to the Communist philosophy that dictates that all Communists of the world to unite, casting away all types of territorial barriers. If the latter could be the reason, then why the Communist-ruled countries need their exclusive, authoritarian domain and why the multi-racial, biggest Communist country called the USSR broke up? Had there been collusive attempts (it must be patriotic fervour!) among the deeply hostile bureaucracy, police and influential sections of the Assamese elite, the Bangladeshi infiltrators would not have had a chance to enter Asom, let alone invade Asom or India over the years, since partition; they would have been simply thrown out of the country, and in that eventuality, the problem of foreigners and the six-year long anti-foreigners agitation would not have taken its birth. The question of signing a paper tiger called the Assam Accord also would not have arisen at all. I wish there had been collusive attempts and also a deeply hostile bureaucracy and police in order to effectively thwart the evil designs of Bangladeshis and their supporters in India to overtake Asom through a silent aggression extending over nearly six decades after Independence! Praful Bidwai and his compatriots of the metro-media, if not the national media, should be told in clear terms as to how Asom has already been overrun by Bangladeshis, and not about the Asomiyas being paranoid about the State being overrun by them. It is ridiculous that Bidwai has used the word paranoid with such aberration. One illustrative example of Bangladeshis invasion of Asom can be found in Dr Amalendu Guhas Planters Raj to Swaraj. In 1911, the Muslim population in the then Barpeta subdivision (since converted to a district), was only 1 per cent of its total population. In 2001, it was found from the census report that the Muslim population had increased to 59.36 per cent, thereby making the Hindus (not Asomiyas alone) a minority community. According to the same census report, the Muslims have become the majority in five districts: Dhubri from 70.46 per cent in 1991 to 74.3 per cent; Goalpara from 50.18 per cent in 1991 to 53.7 per cent; Karimganj from 49.17 per cent in 1991 to 52.3 per cent; Hailakandi from 55.42 per cent in 1991 to 57.6 per cent; and Barpeta from 56.07 per cent in 1991 to 59.36 per cent. By 2005,Muslims also became the majoirty community in another five districts: Darrang, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Marigaon and Cachar. If the Muslims (minorities) had become the majority population in these districts through the normal growth rate of the Asomiya Musalmans,we have nothing to grouse at all, as they too are an integral part of the Asomiya society; but this situation has developed due to abnormal growth rate of the illegally immigrant Bangladeshi population through a much higher birth rate compared to the Hindus as well as Asomiya Musalmans and unabated illegal influx. Now the legal people of Asom would like to know from Bidwai and his company as to what type of legal or constitutional protection they will propose for safeguarding the social, cultural, political and economic interests of these neo-minorities. The neo-secularists should also know how the population of Asom has been growing from 1971 to 2001 on religious basis: Religious groups 1971 1991 2001 2005 (Estimated) Hindu 72.51% 67.13% 64.9% 62.5% Muslim 24.56% 28.47% 30.9% 33% Christian 2.61% 3.32% 3.7% Sikh 0.08% 0.07% 0.08% Buddhist 0.15% 0.29% 0.19% Jain 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% It may be noted that, during 1991-2001, Hindu population grew by 22.49 lakh, with an annual growth rate of 1.49 per cent, whereas Muslim population rose by 18.67 lakh, with an annual growth
rate of 2.93 per cent, nearly double the Hindu growth rate. Thus the minorities (Bangladeshi illegal migrants) are adding to the Muslim population, which we have reasons to believe they are doing in a calculated manner, by rampant practice of polygamy and uncontrolled childbirth. They have converted their womenfolk into human-producing machines, purely with ulterior designs, in order to make Asom a Muslim majority State and then create situations for its merger with Bangladesh. The threat to the Asomiyas was highlighted in the Report to the President of India, submitted in November 1998, by the then Governor of Assam, Lt Gen(Retd) SK Sinha. Some excerpts from the Report since appeared in the print media, are produced below. The unabated influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh into Assam and the consequent perceptible change in the demographic pattern of the State, has been a matter of grave concern. It threatens to reduce the Assamese people to a minority in their own State, as happened in Tripura and Sikkim.... As a result of population movement from Bangladesh, the spectre looms large on the indigenous people of Assam being reduced to a minority in their home State. Their cultural survival will be in jeopardy, their political control will be weakened and their employment opportunities will be undermined. In delivering its historic judgement on the IM(DT) Act last year, the Supreme Court extensively referred to the Governors Report, apart from the affidavits and other material on record: The report of the Governor, the affidavits and other material on record show that millions of Bangladeshi nationals have illegally crossed the international border and have occupied vast tracts of land like char land, barren or cultivable land, forest area, and have taken possession of the same in the State of Assam. Their willingness to work at low wages has deprived Indian citizens, and especially people in Assam, of employment opportunities. This, as stated in the Governors Report, has led to insurgency in Assam...This being the situation, there can be no manner of doubt that the State of Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbance on account of large-scale illegal migration of Bangladeshi nationals... It, therefore, becomes the duty of Union of India to take all measures for protection of the State of Assam from such external aggression and internal disturbance as enjoined in Article 355 of the Constitution... It not possible to accept the submission made. The view taken by this court is that in a criminal trial where a person is prosecuted and punished for commission of a crime and may thus be deprived of his life or liberty, it is not enough that he is prosecuted in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law but the procedure should be such which is just, fair and reasonable. This principle can have no application here for the obvious reason that in the matter of identification of a foreigner and his deportation, he is not being deprived of his life or personal liberty. The deportation proceedings are not proceedings for prosecution where a man may be convicted or sentenced. The Foreigners Act and the Foreigners (Tribunals) order, 1964 are applicable to the whole of India and even to the State of Assam for identification of foreigners who have entered Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971 in view of the language used in Section 6 A of the Citizenship Act. It is, therefore, not open to Union of India or State of Assam or for that matter anyone to contend that the procedure prescribed in the aforesaid enactment is not just, fair and reasonable and thus violative of Article 21 of the Constitution. In our opinion, the procedure under the Foreigners Act and the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 is just, fair and reasonable and does not offend any constitutional provision. In view of the above observations of a sagacious Supreme Court bench, making silly remark such as onus of proof that you are not a foreigner would be on you as done by Bidwai and the likes, is clearly in derogation of the law of the land declared by the apex court. Bidwai should go through the 114-page long judgement and try to learn things he and his friends do not know before branding the Asomiyas as paranoid, and before trying to tell others what they actually do not know. (The writer is a former Chief Secretary of Asom). |
| |
Illegel Immigrants should go back to bangladesh and there should be no compromise on this issue. We all should take this issue seriously.
Pradip Kumar Datta
Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min.
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
