Lots of Bangla migrants, how many we don’t know: Jaiswal
Even as the government accepts that illegal infiltration from Bangladesh is a reality and may have altered the demographic profile of some border districts, it has refused to quantify the extent of the problem citing its “clandestine” nature.
By ET Bureau |
NEW DELHI: Even as the government accepts that illegal infiltration from Bangladesh is a reality and may have altered the demographic profile of some border districts, it has refused to quantify the extent of the problem citing its ���clandestine��� nature.
���India���s long and porous border with Bangladesh, geographical proximity, family ties and ethnic similarity, coupled with better economic opportunities in India have resulted in illegal migration from Bangladesh,��� Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. He, however, added that it was not possible to indicate the exact number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who may have crossed over surreptitiously.
Ironically, it was Mr Jaiswal himself who had, on July 15, 2004, told the same House that ���1,20,53,950 illegal Bangladeshi migrants were residing in 17 states and Union territories as on December 31, 2001.��� In fact, he said that Assam alone accounted for 50 lakh Bangladeshi squatters. Of course, he did an about-turn as couple of days later, withdrawing the reply ��� which had by then generated much political heat in Assam ��� and stating the data on
Bangladeshi infiltrators he had shared with Parliament was ���unreliable��� and based on ���mere hearsay.���
On Wednesday, even as Mr Jaiswal skipped the issue of extent of the infiltration from Bangladesh, he did confirm that enough Bangladeshis may have crossed over to impact the demographic character of border districts. ���Given the clandestine nature of the activity, the possibility of demographic changes in some of the border districts cannot be ruled out,��� he conceded.
This only confirms the submission made by the then Assam governor, Lt Gen S K Sinha, in his report to the President in 1998 that the unchecked infiltration of Bangladeshis into the state had changed the demographic profile of several border districts and could one day lead to severing of the north-eastern region from
the mainland.
���India���s long and porous border with Bangladesh, geographical proximity, family ties and ethnic similarity, coupled with better economic opportunities in India have resulted in illegal migration from Bangladesh,��� Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. He, however, added that it was not possible to indicate the exact number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who may have crossed over surreptitiously.
Ironically, it was Mr Jaiswal himself who had, on July 15, 2004, told the same House that ���1,20,53,950 illegal Bangladeshi migrants were residing in 17 states and Union territories as on December 31, 2001.��� In fact, he said that Assam alone accounted for 50 lakh Bangladeshi squatters. Of course, he did an about-turn as couple of days later, withdrawing the reply ��� which had by then generated much political heat in Assam ��� and stating the data on
Bangladeshi infiltrators he had shared with Parliament was ���unreliable��� and based on ���mere hearsay.���
On Wednesday, even as Mr Jaiswal skipped the issue of extent of the infiltration from Bangladesh, he did confirm that enough Bangladeshis may have crossed over to impact the demographic character of border districts. ���Given the clandestine nature of the activity, the possibility of demographic changes in some of the border districts cannot be ruled out,��� he conceded.
This only confirms the submission made by the then Assam governor, Lt Gen S K Sinha, in his report to the President in 1998 that the unchecked infiltration of Bangladeshis into the state had changed the demographic profile of several border districts and could one day lead to severing of the north-eastern region from
the mainland.
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