Presented at National Seminar on ‘Migration and Its Impact on Indian State and Democracy’ – 13 March 2009, Dept of Politics & Public Administration – University of Pune
Illegal Migration and Undeclared Refugees – Idea of West Bengal at Stake
Mohit Ray
Mohit Ray, PhD (Engineering) is an independent environmental consultant and visiting faculty in School of Environmental Studies , Jadavpur University Bangladesh
I
Idea of West Bengal : Eroded from the Very Emergence
‘(that riot) anticipated many of the trends in future Muslim rioting in Calcutta – the mosque as an important rallying point, the upcountrymen as the main component of the violent crowd, the Marwari merchanr as favourite target of attack, and the vernacular press as the main forum for expressing communal animosities’.3, 4 .
The idea of West Bengal was to have a secular democratic entity quite different from what Pakistan Pakistan and later Bangladesh became Islamic countries while West Bengal emerged as a part of the country with non-religious constitution.
No Exchange of Population
There was no exchange of population in Bengal as it happened for Punjab . Though Punjab passed through the initial months of mayhem, for following 60 years there has been no Hindu-Muslim problem or Sikh-Muslim problem in either parts of Punjab . East Punjab (Indian part of Punjab ) had 33.09% of Muslims in 1941 which got reduced to 1.8% in 1951
and has not increased much.5 In fact it was B. R. Ambedkar who categorically stated long before partition in 1940 that
‘That the transfer of minorities is the only lasting remedy for communal peace is beyond doubt’6.
The Muslim population which stood at 29.5% in 1941 in West Bengal got reduced to 19.5% in 1951, has shot back to 25.5% in 2001. We shall later deal with these figures in a greater detail and its significance for West Bengal . Going back to the advise of B.R. Ambedkar on this issue of numbers:
‘What do these figures indicate? ….. This distribution of the Muslim population, in terms of communal problem, means that while without Pakistan the communal problem in India involves 6 ½ crores of Muslims, with the creation of Pakistan it will involve only 2 crores of Muslims. Is this to be no consideration for Hindus who want communal peace? To me it seems that if Pakistan does not solve the communal problem within Hindustan , It substantially reduces its proportion…..’7
Nehru-Liaquat Treaty 1950 and Two Resignations
After the partition of India Bengal were expected to stop in the coming years. But the situation in East Pakistan (and now in Bangladesh
On 8th April 1950 Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India and Liaquat Ali khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, signed an agreement between two countries to ‘ensure to the minorities throughout its territory complete equality..’ which included ‘freedom of movement’. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, the minister of Industries and Supply in Nehru’s cabinet, resigned over this issue. In his statement in the Parliament on 14 April, 1950, he said
‘The fact thus remains that inspite of two Inter – Dominion Agreements as many as 16 to 20 lakhs of Hindus were sent away to India from East Bengal . About a million of uprooted Hindus had also to come away from Sind . During this period a large number of Muslims also came away from Pakistan West Bengal received a rude shock and we continued as helpless spectators of a grim tragedy.
‘Hindus will continue to come away in large numbers and those who have come will not be prepared to go back. On the other hand, Muslim who had gone away will now return and in our determination to implement the agreement the Muslims will not leave India
Like Ambedkar’s prophetic comment, Shyama Prasad’s comment is true for today. We shall discuss more about it later.
Within a few months another minister from Pakistan
his resignation on 8 October 1950. Mr Jogendra Nath Mandal was the leader of Scheduled Castes in Bengal who was the flag bearer of Scheduled Caste –Muslim unity in Bengal.9 After partition he was rewarded with a Ministership in Pakistan Hindustan and send his resignation from there. Some excerpts from his resignation letter can be useful for this discussion and for the proponents of Dalit-Muslim unity of today. Mr. Mandal wrote:
‘Now this being the overall picture of Pakistan so far as the Hindus are concerned, I shall not be unjustified in stating that Hindus of Pakistan have to all intents and purposes been rendered “Stateless” in their own houses. They have no other fault than that they profess Hindu religion.’
Mr. Mandal foresaw the bleak future
‘After anxious and prolonged struggle I have to come to the conclusion that Pakistan is no place for Hindus to live in and that their future is darkened by the ominous shadow of conversion or liquidation. The bulk of the upper class Hindus and politically conscious Scheduled Castes have left East Bengal . The Hindus who will continue to stay in that accursed province for that matter in Pakistan will, I am afraid, by gradual stages and in a planned manner be either converted to Islam or completely exterminated.’
Two leaders of with so vast ideological differences shared this in common, a bleak future. But the mainstream political parties, Congress and Left and the refugees themselves ignored it to pave the way for today’s scenario.
Leftists Control of Refugee Movement and Stoicism of Upper Caste Refugees
The refugees in ‘50s were mostly from Caste Hindus. They were sure that they had no future in Pakistan East Bengal . Their desperation for a good living in this new land made the refugee movement slowly more violent. The Communists used this anger to take control of this movement. A very detailed description of events have been documented by the historian Prafulla Chakraboty.10 The Left leadership could channelise the movement to their ‘anti-imperialistic’ goal, suppressing the atrocities of Islamic rule in East Pakistan . So the UCRC (United Central Refugee Council) processions started to raise slogans totally irrelevant to refugee problem, like the slogan against Imperialism in Korea
The Left-influenced refugee movement not only suppressed the continuous harassment of the Hindus in East Pakistan, they even went ahead in support of Pakistan Wellington Square Pakistan East Pakistan in accordance with Nehru-Liaquat Pact. The betrayal of the upper caste refugees about their own people in East Pakistan ensured the future illegal migration and continuous flow of today’s refugees, who are mostly what is considered as Scheduled Castes by Indian Constitution. This caste difference sealed the fate of the Hindu refugees for later years, an expression of upper caste Hindu leadership in Left, right and centre and their indifference.
The one-way flow of Hindu refugees continued during the existence of East Pakistan till 1971. Except in 1964 when some riots took place in West Bengal as retaliation to major rioting against Hindus in East Pakistan15, West Bengal accepted the fate of Hindus in East Pakistan as normal. Throughout 60’s and 70’s, the political scenario in West Bengal was a race towards a communist revolution. The politically conscious people of different left stands were busy in engaging in violent actions against class enemies to bring revolution. The leftists slowly have conquered the total intellectual gamut of Bengali Hindus. The situations of the Hindus in East Pakistan never became any issue of discussion amongst left. Nobody mentioned that even after massive migration of the Hindu refugees in West Bengal , the proportion of Muslim population is on the rise.
Awami League won the election in East Pakistan and Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman declared independence on 26 March 1971. It was one of the quickest liberation struggles in history, thanks to Indian intervention. However Pakistan Pakistan
"In what became province-wide acts of genocide, Hindus were sought out and killed on the spot. As a matter of course, soldiers would check males for the obligated circumcision among Moslems. If circumcised, they might live; if not, sure death."17
government record. Out of the refugees in camps 92.7% were Hindus.18 It can be assumed that the refugees on their own will be mostly Hindus taking shelter in their relatives homes. This makes the total number of Hindu refugees as 9176627. Now Bangladesh India
However Bangladesh war only brought some nostalgic emotions about their lost East Bengal to upper caste Hindu refugees who were then mostly getting settled in West Bengal . This horrible aggression on their own brothers and sisters and their brutal killings evoked no angry response in West Bengal . The West Bengal was getting ready for new types of migration – Illegal migration and Undeclared refugees.
II
Indifferent Community, Invitation to Illegal Migration and Undeclared Refugees:
Barrier to critical research
Stunned eerie silence
The left influence on the Bengali Hindu mind was always strong. It has attracted Bengali youth from the days of the IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association). By 60’s the West Bengal intellectual world was totally overwhelmed by leftist ideas. The ’68 student rebellion in France, Vietnam War and Cold war between United States and Soviet Union , made the socialist liberation a dream for the youth in the world. Communist Party of India’s prominence (much due to refugee power), the revolutionary zeal of Naxalite movement and the support of the writers, academics, film directors, musicians to all these political movements – all practically turned West Bengal in a leftist state without the state power.
After so much upheaval in a society in such a small period, there is nearly no books, films or literature on this subject of forced migration of such a large number of people. There have been only stories and films made on the misery of refugee lives but never mentioning who made them refugees. Celebrated film maker Ritwik Ghatak’s films are its best examples. Its not the refugees have forgotten their past, rather they flaunt their link with East Bengal ceremoniously. There is a famous football club named ‘East Bengal ’ which is religiously supported by the refugee youth and old. There are many societies named after different former districts of East Bengal e.g Chattagram Sammilani (Chittagong Association), Mymensingh Sammilani etc. They organise different programmes but never never they would touch upon any subject related with happenings in East Pakistan or today’s Bangladesh Bangladesh
‘In such circumstances one would expect the exodus of Hindus from East Bengal to be a hot issue in the state of West Bengal . One would expect hundreds of books to be written on the subject, articles appearing in the newspapers every now and then, research being conducted on the political, sociological and economic reasons for the exodus, as well as the fallout in these fields, debates on the question
No news from Bangladesh
Trend is same today. Average Bengali has no idea about the situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh Bangladesh West Bengal people. The newspapers observe a self-censor about the Islamic violence. Even the killing of Humayun Azad or assault on Shahriar Kabir did not find any mention in the West Bengal media. A study by BRAC Researcher summed up the situation as ‘violence against minority was in the process being institutionalized in Bangladesh
Average Bengali newspaper reader and now TV viewers have no source to know about these incidents. After the election of BNP-Jamat coalition under Begum Zia in October 2001 a massive onslaught came down on the Hindu community. Several lakhs of people fled to India Bangladesh
Migration Research: Questionable ‘Objectivity’
In this mindset any research on the subject of Illegal Migration and Undeclared Refugees which no doubt would involve the Muslims and Bangladesh is a taboo in West Bengal . When even eminent historians like Amalendu De, an expert in Islamic History and ex-President of The Asiatic Society writes on infiltration, he finds no publisher and had to do with unknown little publisher.25 Similarly Prafulla Chakraborty, well known for his books on European History, could not find publisher for his seminal work ‘The Marginal Men’ and had to print himself. The most striking aspects of this source book published in 1990 that it has a very brief bibliography – simply because there is hardly any work on this issue. In last decade there has been some work on the issue of migration and refugees due to international funding on this subject. But still the researchers are very careful not to cross the sacred line what is known as ‘secularism’.
Chandan Nandy, the author of one of the few extensively researched treatises on the subject. States:
‘I had to approach the field research with extreme caution lest I ended up “taking sides”, especially because the pernicious debate between the left, centre and right of the Indian political spectrum invariably casts researchers as either “communal” or “secular”..’26.
It is difficult to survive in academic field and also get research funding if you are once branded as ‘communal’, especially in Left-run West Bengal . A detailed study of transborder migration from Bangladesh to West Bengal by Ranabir Samaddar provides human stories, theories, some useful data but very careful not to put any attention on the communal nature of Bangladesh
‘My argument here is that though the human flows are very much a part and product of globalization, they also indicate a return to history, to local history and a past narrative of community, in short, they signal continuity. 30
And
‘Here I argue that the nation as a configuration is being continuously redefined, not the least through forces such as population flow……
So Mr Samaddar is waiting to see formation of a new nation in West Bengal , we shall see later what the face of that new ‘neo nation’ would be.
On a similar line a paper from Indian Statistical Institute on ‘undocumented migration’ the researcher tries to avoid the religious issue in a peculiar manner. She writes that ‘It is to be borne in mind that Bangladesh
Migration from Bangladesh to West Bengal has been a continuous process since 1947. The reasons are historical, political, social, cultural, economic, geographical and environmental.34
Note the list of factors for migration again, citing everything except religious or communal factors.
III
Needed: Differentially Defining Illegal Migration and Undeclared Refugees
Definitions
Let us first clarify the terms ‘Illegal migration’, ‘Undeclared Refugees’ and ‘Infiltrators’.
There have been many discussions on the issue of migration and its legality including the unfettered right of migration of people. Any such theoretical debate is avoided here. It is simply that whoever enters a country without proper legal papers or reside without legal permission after entering legally is an ‘illegal migrant’. There should be no ambiguity in that. How that illegal migrant has to be treated is a different issue altogether.
A Refuggee is defined in Article 1 of the 1951 UN Convention as amended by the 1967 Protocol as:
"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.."
However India , Pakistan , Bangladesh India there are 77200 refugees from China , 50730 from Sri Lanka , 9700 from Afghanistan , 1471 from Myanmar and 104 from Somalia India or Bangladesh Bangladesh India from East Pakistan were issued a receipt of their entry into the country. This receipt or slip was the proof of their ‘refugee’ status and they were subsequently granted citizenship of the country. These people are considered as legal refugees. Even Government of India’s notes also refer them as ‘refugees’.
On 29 November 1971, Government of India through its Under Secretary C.L.Goyal issued an Express letter No. 26011/16/71-10 to the Chief Secretaries to all State Governments and Union Territories Administrations. Its Subject: Grant of Indian Citizenship to refugees from East Bengal who have crossed over to India
According to the Sec 5.1(a) of Citizenship Act 1955, persons of Indian origin who are ordinarily resident in India and have been resident for five years immediately before making an application for registration; 37. The refugees from East Pakistan naturally became Indian citizens afterwards.
The situation changed from 26th March, 1971, the category of ‘Undeclared Refugees’ came into being.
So the ‘illegal migrants’ other than ‘the undeclared refugees’ can be termed as ‘infiltrators’. By this definition infiltrator is a Bangladeshi Muslim as others like Hindus, Christians, Buddhists or Ahmedias can claim the status of a refugee due to religious persecution.
Citizenship Act 2003 and Undeclared Refugees
Though the provision of obtaining citizenship for these undeclared refugees were stopped by a notice, it was thought to be a temporary affair as there was still no legal bar from obtaining the citizenship. The act has been amended seven times. Till 1986 anyone born in India
The scenario changed further after the passing of Citizenship Act 2003 by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA Government. The act aimed to please NRI Indians by providing them a chance of dual citizenship, but in the process, this party preaching Hinduttwa caused a major harm to the Hindu Refugees from Bangladesh Bangladesh
What was the reaction for such a devastating act and that too done by ‘communal’ NDA? At the intervention of the state of Gujarat and Rajasthan, citizenship have been given to the
Several thousands Hindus displaced from Sindh residing in those states following the guidelines of section 18 of the Act and subsequent rules of 2004.
But West Bengal remained silent. The Act which has been passed for 5 years but till now no worthwhile discussion on this life and death issue of millions of undeclared refugees have appeared neither in print media or electronic media. Hundreds of Bengali ‘little magazines’, considered to be heart of Bengali intellectualism, which brings out special issues on ‘Palestine’ to ‘HIV Aids’, never touched such an important issue.
IV
The Numbers: Demographic Disaster in West Bengal and Ethnic Cleansing in Bangladesh
Demographical Disaster
Let us start with some of the most easily available statistics of change of Hindu and Muslim population in Bangladesh and West Bengal . Tables of growth of Hindu and Muslim population in Bangladesh and West Bengal are provided in details below:
Table 1
Hindu and Muslim Population Growth in West Bengal & Bangladesh
| | | 1951 | 1961 | | 1974 | |
| Religions | | Total Population (%) | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1951-61 | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1961-74 |
| | All Religions | 41933 | 50840 | 21.24 | 71478 | 40.59 |
| | Hindus | 9239 (22.0) | 9380 (18.5) | 1.53 | 9673 (13.5) | 3.12 |
| | Muslims | 32227 (76.9) | 40890 (80.4) | 26.88 | 61039 (85.4) | 49.28 |
| | | 1981 | | 1991 | | 2001 | | |
| Religions | | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1974-81 | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1981-91 | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1991-01 | Growth Rate (%) 1951-2001 |
| | All Religions | 87120 | 21.88 | 106315 | 22.03 | 123851 | 16.49 | 195.35 |
| | Hindus | 10570 (12.1) | 9.27 | 11179 (10.5) | 5.76 | 11379 (9.2) | 1.79 | 23.16 |
| | Muslims | 74587 (86.7) | 22.2 | 93881 (88.3) | 25.87 | 111079 (89.7) | 18.32 | 244.68 |
| | | 1951 | 1961 | | 1971 | |
| | Religions | Total Population (%) | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1951-61 | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1961-71 |
| | All Religions | 24810308 | 34926279 | 32.8 | 44312011 | 26.87 |
| | Hindus | 19462706 (78.45) | 27523358 (78.80) | 41.42 | 34611864 (78.11) | 25.75 |
| | Muslims | 4925496 (19.85) | 6985287 (20.00) | 41.82 | 9064338 (20.46) | 29.76 |
| | | 1981 | | 1991 | | 2001 | | |
| | Religions | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1971-81 | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1981-91 | Total Population (%) | Growth Rate (%) 1991-01 | Growth Rate (%) 1951- |
| | All Religions | 54580647 | 23.17 | 68077965 | 24.73 | 80176197 | 17.84 | 223.16 |
| | Hindus | 42007159 (76.96) | 21.37 | 50866624 (74.72) | 21.09 | 58104835 (72.47) | 14.23 | 198.54 |
| | Muslims | 11743259 (21.51) | 29.55 | 16075836 (23.61) | 36.89 | 20240543 (25.25) | 25.91 | 310.13 |
Table 2
Districtwise Demographic Change In West Bengal 1951-2001
Population Ratio in Percent (%)
| Region | | 1951 | 2001 | % Change |
| | Hindu | 78.45 | 72.47 | -5.98 |
| | Muslim | 19.85 | 25.25 | 5.4 |
| Darjiling | Hindu | 81.71 | 76.92 | -4.79 |
| | Muslim | 1.14 | 5.31 | 4.17 |
| Jalpaiguri | Hindu | 84.18 | 83.3 | -0.88 |
| | Muslim | 9.74 | 10.85 | 1.11 |
| Kochbihar | Hindu | 70.9 | 75.5 | 4.6 |
| | Muslim | 28.94 | 24.24 | -4.7 |
| Uttar & Dakshin Dinajpur | Hindu | 69.3 | 60.22 | -9.08 |
| | Muslim | 29.94 | 38.47 | 8.53 |
| Maldah | Hindu | 62.92 | 49.28 | -13.64 |
| | Muslim | 36.97 | 49.72 | 12.75 |
| Murshidabad | Hindu | 44.6 | 35.92 | -8.68 |
| | Muslim | 55.24 | 63.67 | 8.43 |
| Birbhum | Hindu | 72.6 | 64.69 | -7.91 |
| | Muslim | 26.86 | 35.08 | 8.22 |
| Bardhaman | Hindu | 83.73 | 78.89 | -4.84 |
| | Muslim | 15.6 | 19.78 | 4.18 |
| Nadia | Hindu | 77.03 | 73.75 | -3.28 |
| | Muslim | 22.36 | 25.41 | 3.05 |
| North 24 Pgs* | Hindu | 77.26 (1971) | 75.23 | -2.03 |
| | Muslim | 22.43 (1971) | 24.22 | 1.79 |
| South 24 Pgs* | Hindu | 72.96 (1971) | 65.86 | -7.1 |
| | Muslim | 26.05 (1971) | 33.24 | 7.19 |
| Hugli | Hindu | 86.52 | 83.63 | -2.89 |
| | Muslim | 13.27 | 15.14 | 1.87 |
| Bankura | Hindu | 91.16 | 84.35 | -6.81 |
| | Muslim | 4.4 | 7.51 | 3.11 |
| Puruliya* | Hindu | 93.13 (1961) | 83.42 | -9.71 |
| | Muslim | 5.99 (1961) | 7.12 | 1.13 |
| Medinipur | Hindu | 91.78 | 85.58 | -6.2 |
| | Muslim | 7.17 | 11.33 | 4.16 |
| Haora | Hindu | 83.45 | 74.98 | -8.47 |
| | Muslim | 16.22 | 24.44 | 8.22 |
| Kolkata | Hindu | 83.41 | 77.68 | -5.73 |
| | Muslim | 12 | 20.27 | 8.27 |
Source: Census of India
# Maldah , a Hindu majority district has been turned into Muslim majority
# South Dinajpur district is on the verge of turning into Muslim majority
# Border districts of Maldah, Murshidabad, Uttar & Dakhsin Dinajpur, South 24 Parganas and Kolkata & Howrah have high increase.
Let us look the data carefully. Remember what Shyamaprasad Mukherjee told in 1950 while resigining from Nehru’s cabinet. The unusual growth of Muslim population during 1951-61 bears out his warnings. While Hindu population growth is very high of 41.42% due to huge influx of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan38 , Muslim population growth was higher at 41.82%. No natural growth can explain this except massive coming back of Muslims back to West Bengal . Remember the role of UCRC, demanding rehabilitation of the Muslims and criticizing Shyamaprasad. Though the Hindu refugee influx continued39, the Muslim growth rate still surpassed that. It is a puzzle nobody bothered to look into. The worst demographic disaster happened during the height of rule of Jyoti Basu, the CPIM’s and country’s longest serving chief minister. West Bengal ’s population growth rate was higher than the Indian national average till 1971 due to high influx of refugees. During 1971-81, for the first time West Bengal population growth rate went below the national average. During 1981-1991 again West Bengal population growth rate became above national average. During that period Hindu growth rate decreased from previous decade (you must keep in mind that influx of Hindu refugees never stopped), the Muslim growth was a phenomenal 36.89%. If there were any normal atmosphere of research and study in West Bengal , this abnormal population scenario should have been a major issue of debate, academic study, election issue, planning, environment etc. However it was silence as ever. Only a respected historian like Professor Amalendu De, once a member of Communist Party who married into the family of Fazlul Haq, the legendary leader Bengali Muslim peasantry, braved to write a small book on infiltration which was criticized in CPI(M)’s daily.40
In 1991-2001 the growth rate reduced but still had a large gap with the growth rate of Hindu population. So from 19.85% in 1951, Muslim population in West Bengal shot up to 25.85% in 2001. Remember Ambedkar’s visionary comment on numbers, this became the reality after 50 years of creation of the state of West Bengal .
Compare the overall growth rate in 50 years in two parts. In West Bengal , Hindu population growth rate was 198.54%, Muslim growth rate was one and half times higher at 310.13%! In Bangladesh
Worst Ethnic Cleansing in Peace Times
One can have a comparative look at the situation in Bangladesh
properties of the Hindus.42 The Enemy Property Act of Pakistan was renamed as Vested Property Act after the emergence of Bangladesh Dhaka University Pakistan
The tales of prominent persons who have been affected by the VPA are well known. For example, Mr. Dhirendra Nath Dutta, the veteran politician from Comilla, freedom fighter against the British Raj, and a member of the then-Pakistan Constituent Assembly, raised the first voice of protest in the Parliament against imposition of Urdu as the only state language of Pakistan
In his later work, he estimated about 6.3 million missing Hindu population during 1971-1991. These are our undeclared refugees. If two third of these people settle in West Bengal , the number of undeclared refugees will be 4.2 million. Let us see in details about Prof Barkat’s estimation:
‘According to the 2001 Bangladesh Population Census, the total size of the Hindu population in Bangladesh
According to the information in the Population Census, the average annual growth rates of the Muslim Population was 3.13 percent for 1961-1974, 3.08 percent for 1974-1981, 2.20 percent for 1981-1991, and 1.7 percent for 1991-2001 periods.
Assuming a 13 percent lower fertility rates for the Hindus compared to the Muslims, the average annual growth rates of Hindu population in “no out-migration” situation would have been 2.72 percent during 1964-1971, 2.68 percent during 1971-1981, 1.92 percent during 1981-1991, and 1.48 percent during 1991-2001.
By extrapolating the above rates, the Hindu population in 1971 would have been 11.4 million instead of 9.6 million as reported in the official documents. The Hindu population would have been 14.3 million in 1981 instead of 10.6 million, 16.5 million in 1991 instead of 11.2 million, and 19.5 million in 2001 instead of 11.4 million. Therefore, there were some 1.8 million mission Hindu population during 1964-1971, 1.9 million missing Hindu population during 1971-1981, 1.6 million missing Hindu population during 1981-1991, and 2.8 million missing Hindu population during 1991-2001. Thus the estimated total missing Hindu population was 8.1 million during 1964-2001, i.e., 218,919 Hindus missing each year. In other words, if out-migration of the Hindu population is caused mainly by communal disharmony resulting from the Enemy / Vested Property Acts, the approximate size of the missing Hindu population would be 600 persons per day during 1964-2001. The approximate size of the missing Hindu population was as high as 705 persons per day during 1964-1971, as against 521 persons per day during 1971-1981, decreasing to 438 persons per day during 1981-1991, and rising to 767 persons per day during 1991-2001.44
Interestingly, though these missing populations have come to West Bengal, the Economics Departments of various Universities in West Bengal never cared to carry out research corresponding to what Prof Barkat has done. The reason is well known.
Now we proceed to the numbers from the Indian side.
Infiltrators - how many
What is the number of infiltrators? Government sources do not segregate between the illegal migrants and the undeclared refugees, only sometimes some figures are given. Let us go by some initial government statistics and the reactions by the Congress and the Left parties.
Home Minister Shri Indrajit Gupta in reply to a question in Parliament on 6th May, 1990 stated that the number of illegal immigrants in India West Bengal :
Mr. Chairman, Sir, I heard in the last two occasions this particular debate on this resolution. Before I participate in the discussion on the resolution, I had the privilege to hear the distinguished Home Minister Shri Indrajit Gupta the other day while replying to a question. I do not know the reason and the logistics which provided him the strength to admit in the House that about ten million foreigners are now residing in India
So mentioning the number of ten million of infiltrators irritated Mr Dasmunsi very much. What more to please the infiltrators waiting to enter. Mr Dasmunshi continues:
Sir, it is a fact that historically when India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were together during the days of freedom struggle, when we were all one against the British empire, our cultural, social, and political aspirations and our emotional ties were one. …… Be it a Muslim in Bangladesh, be it a Muslim in Pakistan, their dreams for this sub-continent in the days of the struggle against the British and their cultural, religious, emotional passion, are the same today also. …. Let us take stock of our border States Pakistan Pakistan
Do you need a Jamat or Muslim league anymore in India
Thirty years ago, a daily wage earner of the agricultural field, may be his name is, Shri Ramatulla Khan, could not thrive in his own part and maybe on the side of Tripura or West Bengal or Assam, the big landlords whether Hindu or Muslim, asked Shri Ramatulla Khan during agriculture season to come and work in the field and to give support to agricultural production. Shri Ramatulla Khan went and stayed there for long with his family and children. Now when the time has come to identify, we do not go to the background as to how Shri Ramatulla Khan came in. We go straight to the child and tell like this: "Look here, your father came here as an illegal immigrant. We have enough documents because Rahmatullah used to stay in a village till 16th August 1947 or till such and such a date of August 1950 or August, 1960. You are his child and get out from here." This is the kind of an attitude we have always adopted throughout the country.
A Memebr of Parliament standing inside Parliament telling the administration not to disturb the infiltrator family! And then Mr Dasmunsi introduces his background. –
I was born in Bangladesh India
A fantastic account from a refugee boy! The so much celebration of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. But then why the Dasmunshi family came from East Pakistan and stayed back in India
The issue of infiltrators also dogged the days of Shri Jyoti Basu, whose government was responsible for this invasion to begin. In an article published in CPI-M’s Bengali daily Ganashakti on 11 October 1992, on the Infiltration problem Jyoti Basu wrote:
..From 1979 the Muslims are also coming to India Mobile task Force has pushed back 2,16, 985 Bangladeshi infiltrators. Amongst them 56342 were Hindus and 1,69,795 are Muslims.45
So we find during 15 years about 4.5 lakhs of infiltrators were pushed back and 73% of them were Muslims. If we consider that only 30% of the infiltrators are caught, then this itself is enough to quantify the problem of Muslim infiltration in West Bengal .
On July 14, 2004, in reply to a question in the Parliament, the Congress Minister of State for Home Affairs Sri Prakash Jaiswal informed that there 1 crore 20 lakhs 53 thousand and 950 illegal Bangladeshi in the country. Out of that West Bengal has 57 Lakhs of the illegal Bangladeshi. The list is given below. As usual when the pro-islamic ‘secular’ media raised a hue and cry, the minister had to say that ‘the reported figures were not based on any comprehensive or sample study but were based on hearsay and that too from interested parties. Therefore, no realistic figures can be given for illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam Delhi State
Table 3
Bangladeshi Migrants in India
| State | Estimated Number |
| Arunachal Padesh | 800 |
| | 5000000 |
| | 47900 |
| | 100 |
| Haryana | 550 |
| Madya Pradesh | 700 |
| | 20400 |
| Meghalaya | 30000 |
| Nagaland | 59500 |
| Orissa | 30850 |
| | 150 |
| Rajasthan | 2500 |
| Tripura | 325400 |
| UP | 26000 |
| | 5700000 |
| Andaman & Nikobar | 3000 |
| | 375000 |
| 11622850 | |
Chandan Nandy has done excellent work by tracking the infiltrators and their modous operandi, both in West Bengal and Assam
The fact that West Bengal has been and continues to be a favourite destination for Bangladeshi migrants is testified by the results of a pilot project that the Government of India launched in 2003 in the Murshidabad-Jiaganj belt of Muslim-majority Murshidabad district, believed to be home to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi migrants, as part of its larger scheme to issue multi-purpose national identity cards to citizens. The work on the ground was to be executed by the district administration. The Murshidabad-Jiaganj belt was chosen along with a few other areas in some of the border states of India
The reaction of the CPI-M was, not surprisingly, similar: “It is a sensitive issue and not possible for the state alone to combat it…But your figures are absurd.”49…. Neither the West Bengal government nor the CPI-M agrees that the estimated number of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in the state is ‘no fewer than 10 million’.
So the unprecedented scale of the infiltration and undeclared refugee influx is a case in point, though it never received an iota of legitimate attention.
V
Impact: Secular Democratic Society At Stake
Though we do not know the exact figure of either the infiltration or undeclared refugee influx but the scale is clearly perceptible. Abul Barkat’s estimates provide 4.5 million undeclared refugees. Some of them have come with regular visas but mostly without any documents. We find from previous discussions that the Muslim infiltrators are nearly three times the Hindu refugees trying to sneak in to India West Bengal ’s real population may be between 80 to 90 million, not 80 million recorded in Census 2001. But as the numbers are not specific, the impact can be predicted only qualitatively.
The impact of an unrecorded population of such a magnitude cannot be ignored at social, economic, political or environmental level. Let us first take the issue of any planning for the state which include Food, Shelter, Sanitation, Education – the basic needs. West Bengal is already one of the most underperforming states. NSS 61st Round, July 2004-June 2005 showed that the percentage of rural household not getting enough food every day in some months of the year was the highest in West Bengal (10.6 per cent). 50 So when you have a large number of unrecorded people it is diffcult to plan. From environmental point of view, West Bengal already is the most densely populated state in the country. It is impossible to take more people in it. We have already seen that land is such a scarce resource in West Bengal , it has become the focal point of all development issues. Already the issue of land in Singur and Nandigram villages have caused a political turmoil in the state which has further economic impact in terms future investment of industrial capital in West Bengal . So if these influx of infiltrators and undeclared refugees continues unabetted, the problem will intensify in the coming days.
The alarming increse of population put excess pressure on the natural resources. More the people are poor, more they depend on direct natural resources for livelihood. It can be water from the ponds, wood from the jungle or other house building materials. All these have direct impact on environment and public health. The undeclared refugees living along the train tracks connecting Kolkata to the eastern border town of Bangaon West Bengal is often helpless in the face of such influx.
Planning with a large dose of finacial help can mitigate the economic problems to some acceptable level, but the cultural, political and social environmental impacts are often irreversible.
Expansion of Madrasas and Assault on Secualr Education
After coming to power in 1978, Left-front government went full steam ahead to encourage madrasa education. Their yearly list of successes always include the success of spreading more madrasa education with ever-larger state funding. While students of various other religions study under different non-religious educational boards (West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, Central Board of Secondary Education, Indian School Certificate Examination etc), the Muslims have to study under a Islamic educational board, the rationale is never questioned. This is not a place of detailed discussion on it but these madrasas are the cradles of Islamic fundamentalism. This was publicly admitted by Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the Communist Chief Minister of West Bengal , while commenting on attacks on US Centre in Kolkata in January 2002. Of course later he had to eat his own words, saying he was misquoted.51
Again remember the number game mentioned by B R Ambedkar. As the number of Muslims without any progressive leadership increases, there is always an ever-expanding space for bargain for orthodoxy. Now all the political parties from CPI-M led Left Front Trinamul Congress or Congress – compete with each other promising more Madrasas. Few years back when the case contesting the ban on Taslima Nasrin’s book ‘Dwikhondita’ was being heard in Calcutta High Court, very young boys from different madrasas wearing Palestinian scarfs used to be brought in hundreds to shout insulting slogans against Taslima Nasrin, the rebel writer banished from Bangladesh
Rise in Muslim Population and Electoral change of West Bengal
As discussed earlier, demographic danger is already a reality. Recent change of electoral constituencies in West Bengal show the impact. While the Hindu-dominated areas have lost the constituencies, seats have shot up in the Muslim-dominated areas. Kolkata, which earlier had 21 state legislative assembly seats now has only 11 seats. Again, Hindu-dominated Purulia and West Medinipur districts looses two constituencies each, one each in Bankura, Burdwan, Birbhum and Hooghly . Muslim-dominated areas e.g in Murshidabad, the number of seats increased by three and for both North Dinajpur and Nadia the increase was by two seats each. Malda, and South Dinajpur gained one each. Now see the demographic change at the 0-6 year level. The amazing 2001 census results show that while the Muslim population in state is 25.25%, their children (0-6 years) constitute 33.17%. Ambedkar’s prophecy came to be true.
Table 4
Religious Proportion of Children (0-6 years) in 2001
| Region | | Population % | Children % | % Discrepancy |
| | Hindu | 72.47 | 64.61 | -7.86 |
| | Muslim | 25.25 | 33.17 | 7.92 |
| Darjiling | Hindu | 76.92 | 76.18 | -0.74 |
| | Muslim | 5.31 | 8.26 | 2.95 |
| Jalpaiguri | Hindu | 83.3 | 80.44 | -2.86 |
| | Muslim | 10.85 | 13.8 | 2.95 |
| Kochbihar | Hindu | 75.5 | 69.82 | -5.68 |
| | Muslim | 24.24 | 30 | 5.76 |
| Uttar & Dakshin Dinajpur | Hindu | 60.22 | 51.67 | -8.55 |
| | Muslim | 38.47 | 47 | 8.53 |
| Maldah | Hindu | 49.28 | 43 | -6.28 |
| | Muslim | 49.72 | 56 | 6.28 |
| Murshidabad | Hindu | 35.92 | 29.35 | -6.57 |
| | Muslim | 63.67 | 70.27 | 6.6 |
| Birbhum | Hindu | 64.69 | 58.42 | -6.27 |
| | Muslim | 35.08 | 41.15 | 6.07 |
| Bardhaman | Hindu | 78.89 | 75 | -3.89 |
| | Muslim | 19.78 | 23.62 | 3.84 |
| Nadia | Hindu | 73.75 | 66.71 | -7.04 |
| | Muslim | 25.41 | 32.55 | 7.14 |
| North 24 Pgs* | Hindu | 75.23 | 65.52 | -9.71 |
| | Muslim | 24.22 | 34 | 9.78 |
| South 24 Pgs* | Hindu | 65.86 | 55.41 | -10.45 |
| | Muslim | 33.24 | 43.85 | 10.61 |
| Hugli | Hindu | 83.63 | 78.94 | -4.69 |
| | Muslim | 15.14 | 19.53 | 4.39 |
| Bankura | Hindu | 84.35 | 81.8 | -2.55 |
| | Muslim | 7.51 | 10 | 2.49 |
| Puruliya* | Hindu | 83.42 | 81.62 | -1.8 |
| | Muslim | 7.12 | 9.26 | 2.14 |
| Medinipur | Hindu | 85.58 | 81.36 | -4.22 |
| | Muslim | 11.33 | 15.36 | 4.03 |
| Haora | Hindu | 74.98 | 64.81 | -10.17 |
| | Muslim | 24.44 | 34.68 | 10.24 |
| Kolkata | Hindu | 77.68 | 70.24 | -7.44 |
| | Muslim | 20.27 | 27.81 | 7.54 |
A Colluding State
The rising numbers, violent methods and a colluding State has made the practice of democracy in state at stake. The share of Hindu population in border areas of West Bengal
are decreasing day by day. Bimal Pramanik has studied the issue of four border districts in details.52 His findings show the massive population growth, particualrly that of Muslim population in these districts. His extensive interviews also show that the Hindus are living in fear of life, property and dignity. There is a limeric commonly going around in these areas:
Garu Rakhbi Campe, Taka Rakhbi Banke, Bou Rakhbi Kotahy?
[You May Keep Your Cows In Camp (BSF camps), Your Money in Bank, But where can you hide your wife?]
Listen to the admission of a district official,
Village after village in Murshidabad, which were earlier Hindu dominated, are now Muslim dominated. Take Char Nirmal as an example. It has been completely taken over by Bangladeshis. Elsewhere in Bhagawangola block, Hindus have either sold off their property and left the villages for small towns and urban agglomerates or they have been pushed to the fringes of the villages. Barring the towns, where they have some presence, the Hindus are in a minority in practically all the villages of Murshidabad. The writ of the immigrants runs strong, especially in the border villages. The local administration is practically run by them. They are more vocal in their demands. On the other hand, the Hindus seem to have meekly given in. A section of them, though, is seething at the sudden assertiveness of the Muslim immigrants. 5
The Shariat court is now common in these areas. The Islamic fervour is so strong that such a court in end July 2008 ordered and executed the beheading of a Hindu man. The wife of the man was a local Muslim girl who went to work in Mumbai and met the boy there. They had a son. While the couple came to the girl’s village in Murshidabad, after knowing the religion of the person, the village court ordered to kill him.54 Muslim girl being lashed for unwed pregnancy (Murshidabad, April 2004) or Muslim bride being nailed into the knee for a claimed adulterous relationship in the absence of her husband, all are verdicts from the shariat courts (Murshidabad, October 2006). These are the tips of the iceberg, could filter through to the national dailies.
In fact the show of Muslim muscle power as mentioned in the beginning, is becoming a common sight. There was a clash between Hindu and Muslims on 8 January 2009 at Medinipur town, during Muharram procession. Medinipur is a Hindu dominated area. Fear of Muslim violence was so serious that three weeks later, holding of Saraswati Puja in the town, a big festival for Hindus, was kept in hold, and was permitted just few days before the puja.55 The experience of Chandan Nandy during his study can throw more light on the borderlands:
‘In my travel in the West Bengal and Assam borderlands, the “considerable” mushrooming of mosques and Islamic seminaries, funded by money funneled from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in West Asia, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was evident and backed up by government documentation which claim that these places of worship and learning have become hot-beds of fundamentalism and anti-India propaganda. When I met an 18 year-old maulana35 at Fakirerbazar in Assam
cassette tapes of Bangladeshi Jamaat-e-Islami clerics like Delawar Hussein Saidi, preaching anti-Hindu and anti-India sermons, and taped eulogies of Osama bin Laden, only reinforce Hindu and official belief of growing Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh out to create a Brihot Bangladesh or a Greater Bangladesh carved out of the territory settled by its Muslim population. As one Indian writer explains: “Some of the Islamic militant groups of Bangladesh like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami, Shahadat-al-Hikma, Jamait-ul-Mujahideen and the Islami Manch make no secret of their aim to establish a transnational Islamic state comprising Bangladesh , Muslim majority districts of West Bengal, Assam , Tripura and the Rohingya Hills of Myanmar
Expulsion of Taslima Nasrin probably signals the beginning of the last days of a democratic secular West Bengal . The Communist government imposed a ban on ‘Dwikhondito’ by Taslima Nasrin, Calcutta High Court rejected the appeasement of Islamic fundamentalists by lifting the ban. While the Calcutta High Court could thwart the Left Front governments’ attempts to Muslim appeasement, the mighty force of fundamentalist violence took law and order in its hand to throw Taslima out of West Bengal . A day-long violence on 21 November 2007, virtually supported by all the major ‘secular’ parties and ‘secular’ intelligentsia showed the shape of society to come.
This ‘neo nation’ again flexed its muscle between 6-8 February 2009 at the heart of Kolkata. It went on rampage by attacking the office of the Statesman, one of the oldest newspapers in the subcontinent. The Statesman published an article by veteran journalist Johann Hari of The Independent, London
This is probably the future of West Bengal . And those undeclared refugees, hounded out from home by a violent society and now hounded by a State, see it like this:
‘I had thought that my family and I had seen the last of Islamic fundamentalism in my village in Pirojpur in Bangladesh India
The author, on his campaign experience for last seven years, have heard similar views from so many undeclared refugees.
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