Unfortunately, we are unable to answer the illegal-immigrants question in Assam convincingly enough due to corruption and weak governance
Unfortunately, we are unable to answer the illegal-immigrants question in Assam convincingly enough due to corruption and weak governance
The reported exodus of thousands of students from the Northeast from Bengaluru has prompted home minister Sushilkumar Shinde to declare strict action will be taken against anyone spreading rumours. He was referring to alleged SMS messages threatening violence against Northeasterners that sparked the exodus.
The Bengaluru police is investigating, and it is not yet clear how many of those going home were just taking a planned break.
The violence in Assam’s Bodo areas has not spread further outwards, and while there were stray attacks on people from the Northeast in Pune and Mysore, the scale of violence does not seem sufficient to cause an exodus of thousands. That can perhaps be explained in the light of rumours suggesting that a fresh round of violence, of even greater intensity, might occur in the near future.
The Assam government deployed two Army columns in potentially violent areas on Thursday to prevent any such recurrence. We also hope governments in the states and the Centre will manage to prevent any further incidents of rioting related to the Assam conflict elsewhere in India. The fact that sparks from Assam can light communal fires elsewhere became clear in Mumbai last week when a rally called to protest against attacks on Muslims in Assam and Burma turned violent. The police in Mumbai, which along with the media bore the brunt of the violence, is trying to identify and arrest the rioters. This should be easy: there is plenty of photographic and video evidence. If the police acted with similar alacrity against all hooliganism, this would be a safer country for all.
Our tendency to accept political violence as a routine matter is dangerous. Hooligans from a wide array of political outfits routinely indulge in violence and get away with it. This is true of groups like the Shiv Sena and MNS in Maharashtra, the Kannada Rakshana Vedike in Karnataka, dalit groups in several states and student unions in the Northeast, among others.
The violence in Assam is over a question that divides opinion between Left and Right. One side alleges that Bangladeshi immigrants, who are Muslims, taking over Bodo lands is the root cause. The other side claims that the people are Bengali Muslims from India. The question itself is not a communal one. It is one of governance, because as a country we ought to be able to tell with some certainty whether those people are our citizens or not. If they are our citizens, they deserve the state’s protection. If they are illegal migrants from another country, they should be repatriated. Unfortunately, we are unable to answer the question convincingly enough due to corruption and weak governance. This now poses a danger to our social fabric.
