Politicising a concern

 For several decades, the unabated influx of illegal immigrants has been the burning issue in the north east and the closest that came to tackling it was some thirty years ago when the Assam Accord was signed between the leaders of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the government of late Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. Despite the enactment of Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act 1983 the numbers haven’t decreased mainly because the Act has several loopholes. The detection of suspected foreigners is not an easy task mainly because of several loopholes. For some reason or the other, the issue of ‘illegal migrant’ in Assam has been obfuscated on religious lines while the uncomfortable fact is the inability to clearly define who can be considered as an ‘Assamese’. Also it is to be understood that every Muslim is not a Bangladeshi and every Bangladeshi is not a Muslim. There are Bangladeshi Hindus also who have not been under the radar because their religion allows them so. This has had a grave consequence on the indigenous Twipuris who have been systematically reduced to a minority community in their own ancestral land. The fear of demographic change is as real as the fact that Tripuris, the indigenous people of the state, have been reduced to a minority status in their own home with hardly 30% of the population. Today, migrants of Bangladeshi origin in Assam are in a majority in the districts of Barpeta, Dhubri, Karimganj, Nagaon, Hailakandi in a state with nearly 3 crore people. Migrants of Bangladeshi origin and Muslims make up a little over 30 percent of the population which has seen a steep rise by 77.42 per cent from 64.46% particularly in Dhubri district. There was also a steep rise of 53.71 percent in 2001 from 50.18 percent in 1971. The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2016 has been temporarily shelved by the BJP due to enormous hue and cry against it. The CAB could just be re-tabled if the BJP returns to power. The CAB favours Hindu Bangladeshis for grant of Indian citizenship while closing all doors on Muslim Bangladeshis. The influx from Bangladesh involves both Muslims and Hindus. This is because the population explosion in Bangladesh, with 2.8 million added every year in one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world, creates the push factors for this silent demographic invasion. These are, however, compounded by an expansionist political ideology, implicitly or explicitly supported in the corridors of power in Bangladesh: the idea of Lebensraum (‘living space’), which has been variously projected by the country’s leadership for a long time, though the use of the expression itself is relatively recent. In Nagaland, some organizations feel that the Inner Line Permit (enacted through the BEFR 1873) should extend to all areas of the state , especially Dimapur (where ILP is not in force). The ILP is somehow being seen as an effective instrument to discourage and prevent movement or entry of non-indigenous people into the state. However, this may not prove to be an effective tool unless the locals realise they are also part of the problem. The point is that when Assam itself has failed to check influx, other states too suffer. Perhaps there is much that Assam needs to do as it is the home ground and exporter of migrants.