The usual suspects are out in full force to defend illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, their ‘right’ to be in India and ‘settle’ on public land and forest land. The Supreme Court of India’s recent stay on evicting these ‘settlers’ from forest land is being touted as a ‘big victory’. This stay order undoes the judgements of Gauhati High Court. The Government of Assam is being projected as a tormentor of ‘settlers’ and pilloried for upholding the law.

It is ironical that the same Judiciary had given stunningly powerful judgements on the IMDT Act and illegal immigration from Bangladesh, upholding petitions filed by Sarbananda Sonowal. The orders were hailed, and continue to be, landmark judgements dealing with the problem of unabated illegal immigration from Bangladesh into Assam and its adjoining States in north-east India.

Sadly, public memory in India is notoriously short, made shorter by our poor sense of history which is compounded by the perverse politics of minorityism and appeasement in the guise of ‘secular’ politics. The rabble is easily swayed by the rhetoric of rabble-rousers and commonsense takes a back seat.

The Supreme Court of India’s judgement in Sarbananda Sonowal vs Union Of India & Another on 12 July, 2005, provides a context and an expansive backdrop to the action of the Assam Government. The ‘Sonowal Judgements’ also explain why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is worried about the social, cultural and political consequences of demographic disbalance.

Unless we the people are better informed, our future as a civilisational nation shall remain uncertain, our identity as a people will begin to fade, and demographic disbalance will pose both internal and external security threats.

A copy of the report dated 8 November, 1998 sent (to the President) by the Governor of Assam, Lt Gen SK Sinha (Retired), former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, has also been filed along with this application. The report is a long and comprehensive one which was prepared after thorough inspection of border areas and districts, discussion with Indian Ambassador in Bangladesh and talks with political leaders. Some portions of the report are being reproduced below:

“1. The unabated influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh into Assam and the consequent perceptible change in the demographic pattern of the State has been a matter of grave concern. It threatens to reduce the Assamese people to a minority in their own State, as happened in Tripura and Sikkim.

2. Illegal migration into Assam was the core issue behind the Assam student movement. It was also the prime contributory factor behind the outbreak of insurgency in the State. Yet we have not made much tangible progress in dealing with this all important issue.

3. There is a tendency to view illegal migration into Assam as a regional matter affecting only the people of Assam. It’s more dangerous dimensions of greatly undermining our national security, is ignored. The long cherished design of Greater East Pakistan / Bangladesh, making in-roads into strategic land link of Assam with the rest of the country, can lead to severing the entire land mass of the North-East, with all its rich resources from the rest of the country. They will have disastrous strategic and economic consequences."

Failure to get Assam included in East Pakistan in 1947 remained a source of abiding resentment in that country. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in his book ‘Myths of Independence’ wrote: “It would be wrong (to say) that Kashmir is the only dispute that divides India and Pakistan, though undoubtedly the most significant. One at least is nearly as important as the Kashmir dispute, that of Assam and some districts of India adjacent to East Pakistan. To these Pakistan has very good claims."

Even a pro-India leader like Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his book ‘Eastern Pakistan: Its Population & Economics’, observed, “Because Eastern Pakistan must have sufficient land for its expansion and because Assam has abundant forests and mineral resources, coal, petroleum etc, Eastern Pakistan must include Assam to be financially and economically strong."

Besides the above considerations, there are other contributory factors facilitating infiltration from Bangladesh. Ethnic, linguistic and religious commonality between the illegal migrants and many people on our side of the border enables them to find shelter. It makes their detection difficult. Some political parties have been encouraging and even helping illegal migration with a view to building vote banks. These immigrants are........

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