On Subir Bhaumiks recent article (The Hindu, 10/5) on Modi reasserting his stand on the “Bangladesh factor” in Assam where he seeks to differentiate between Hindus who were fleeing persecution and Muslims who were economic migrants or troublemakers, insisting that it was India’s bounden duty to shelter Hindus but throw out the “others”. Now its imperative for one to understand the implications behind the others and how Assams demographic constitution doesnt only comprise of Hindus. It comprises of Assamese Muslims who were bona fide Indians. On that note, I also add how a section of the illegal immigrants, especially in parts of the Barak Valley happen to be Bengali speaking Hindu families from Bangladesh. Its interesting to note how Mr Modi adopts Confessional Politics to engage every aspect of a regions political problem and shapes it to his conveniences for votes. Assams illegal immigration problem isnt dominantly a religion problem, its a territorial problem involving ownership and utilization of resources. The common strategy that political parties undertake for vote banks is evident once again - Politicization along communal lines. Mr Modi should rather try to engage in actively addressing the root of the problem which centered more on the issue of ethnicity and the territorial mesh up that is a configuration for administrative convenience, not along linguistic-cultural lines. What Mr Modi also conveniently forgets is (as Bhaumik puts it aptly), Any large-scale pushback from India of so-called Bangladeshis will unleash religious anti-India passions in Bangladesh, lead to attacks on Hindus and help Islamist parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami and radicals like the HuJI reclaim lost ground to corner the Awami League.
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 16:34:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015