Refugees who’ve fled to India deserve better
The Union Government's efforts to officially open doors for persecuted minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh deserves must be welcomed. Such efforts stem from a much-needed recognition of ground realities and marks a sincere attempt to effectively deal with them. There are no two ways around the fact that religious minorities in the two neighbouring countries face a raw deal — in Pakistan, for example, targeted killings of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are a routine affair and so are forced religious conversions. In Bangladesh, the situation is only slightly better. An increasingly intolerant strand of political Islam continues to threaten that country's religious minorities. For example, the hostile environment that engulfs Bangladeshi Hindus, including those who live in the big cities, during election season is just one example of how difficult the circumstances can become for minorities in that country. The other ground reality is that, because of religious persecution, several thousands of these minorities have crossed the border and moved to India. However, few of them have valid papers. Worse, India's own amorphous laws regarding such refugees or immigrants have meant that these people struggle to survive on the social fringes. They can't find work or complete their studies; they do not have access to Government subsidies or state facilities. Since there is no proper mechanism for them to be officially incorporated into the Indian mainstream, they have no choice but to slip in through the cracks.
This is what the Modi Government has sought to regularise, one step at a time. Earlier this week, it issued a notification under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, and the Foreigners Act, 1946, allowing Bangladeshi and Pakistani minorities who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014, to stay on in India, even if they didn't have valid documents. In April, the Union Ministry for Home Affairs got the ball rolling on a new online system to handle long-term visa applications. Before that, in November last year, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved several steps that would make it easier for the Government to grant citizenship to such refugees. Moreover, easing the plight of refugees who fled persecution in neighbouring countries, and moved to India — on humanitarian grounds — has always been on Mr Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda.
But all said and done, issues of migration and citizenship, not to mention assimilation, are of a sensitive nature, as the boiling controversy in Assam stands proof, and they must be handled with care. The Governments at the Centre and the State (which, notably, are on the same page, despite being led by different parties) must reach out to the opposition groups and build consensus. The latter's argument that this week's notification violates the Assam Accord, which labels all those who illegally entered India after March 24, 1971, as ‘foreigners', is incorrect. As Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has pointed out, the Assam Accord deals with citizenship issues while the notification only says that those without proper papers will be allowed to stay — it is silent on the matter of citizenship, which presumably will be dealt with later.