Opposition parties have sensed a chance after the release of
the final draft of the NRC. Every attempt is being made to create a crisis
where none exists. However, it is grossly premature to speculate on the future
of those identified as illegal immigrants. Religion, region and caste have
always affected politics but governance should be above such considerations.
A perfectly legitimate exercise by the Assam government,
under the Assam Accord, has precipitated condemnable reaction from the
Opposition parties. The Congress — and its president, Rahul Gandhi — must make
its stand clear on the issue of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries.
Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had committed that immigrants to Assam
after March 25, 1971, would be detected, identified and deported. The Congress
had agreed to the NRC. But the party did nothing in this respect when it held
office at the Centre or in Assam because the immigrants are mostly Muslims and
the party has cultivated this community as its vote bank.
The Congress also tried to subvert the Foreigners Act 1946
through the Illegal Migrant Determination by Tribunal (IMDT) Act, 1983. The
IMDT Act was stuck down by the Supreme Court in 2005. The Court’s verdict came
in response to a petition filed by Assam’s current Chief Minister Sarbananda
Sonowal. The court noted that the IMDT “is the main impediment or barrier in
the identification and deportation of illegal migrants”.
The Congress’s conduct in the affair requires close scrutiny.
In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on August 28, 2000, the then
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)-led government pointed out that it had been asking the
Centre to repeal the IMDT Act because the law was against national interest. In
May 2001, the AGP was defeated in elections to the Assam Assembly and a
Congress-led government assumed office. On August 8, 2001, the new government
moved an application in the apex court praying that the state be permitted to
withdraw the earlier affidavit and be allowed to file a new affidavit. The
application stated that “the IMDT Act is constitutional and there is no
question of either repeal or striking down of the Act”.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre had
filed an affidavit in the matter on July 18, 2000, stating that a proposal to
repeal the IMDT Act was under its consideration. However, the Congress-led UPA
government which assumed office at the Centre in 2004 file another affidavit in
November that year. It said that the Centre had decided to retain the IMDT Act
in its present form. But the Court stuck down the Act in 2005. It observed,
“The dangerous consequences of large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh,
both for the people of Assam and more for the nation as a whole, need to be
emphatically stressed. No misconceived and mistaken notions of secularism
should be allowed to come in the way of doing so”.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that at the root of
all socio-political problems in the country lie the Congress’s myopic politics.
The party’s position on several issues, including the triple talaq issue, the
Supreme Court judgment on maintenance to Shah Bano, illegal immigrants from
Bangladesh, Ram Temple at Ayodhya and the plight of Kashmiri Pundits, testify
to its myopic vision. The party is responsible for communalising Indian
politics.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s political
ambitions have grown in recent times. She sees the NRC issue as an opportunity
to consolidate her Muslim vote-bank. Banerjee has dishonestly described the NRC
as a restriction on the inter-state movement of Indian citizens. She is trying
to turn the NRC into a Hindu-Muslim issue. We hope she explains her stand on
the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh. It is another matter that on
August 4, 2005, she had stated in the Lok Sabha: “Infiltration in Bengal has
become a disaster now. You can see Bangladeshi as well as Indian names in the
list. I have both the Bangladeshi and the Indian voters’ list. This is a very
serious matter”. The silence of other political parties like the CPI, CPM, BSP,
SP, RJD reeks of hypocrisy.
The illegal immigrants are not refugees. The movement under
the banners of the AASU and AAGSP had emerged because the people of Assam
feared the adverse social, political, cultural and economic impacts of the
unabated influx of foreigners. Census figures show that the percentage of
Assamese-speakers in the state declined from 58 per cent in 1991 to 48 per cent
in 2001. The Muslim population of Assam increased from 25 per cent in 1951 to
34 per cent in 2011.
All political parties should express their stand on the issue
of illegal immigrants in no uncertain terms. Fear-mongering and
hyperventilation would not serve the interests of the nation as would keeping
quiet on the issue.
