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THE HIMALAYAN DISASTER: TRANSNATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM A MUST

We talked with Palash Biswas, an editor for Indian Express in Kolkata today also. He urged that there must a transnational disaster management mechanism to avert such scale disaster in the Himalayas. http://youtu.be/7IzWUpRECJM

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Arya-Brahmin Fake Communist Leaders Used Dalit Refugees as their Political Pawns

Arya-Brahmin Fake Communist Leaders

Used Dalit Refugees as their Political Pawns

Bengali Dalit refugees were initially unenthusiastic about the left parties and naturally drawn towards the ruling Arya-Brahminist Congress. Gradually they were disillusioned and actively joined the Arya-Brahminist leaders of left parties who launched a {fake} campaign to rehabilitate Dalit refugees in West Bengal itself and opposed the plans of their own Arya-Brahminist brothers of ruling Congress to rehabilitate Bengali Dalits in Andaman, Nikobar, Dandakaranya and other states. Bengali Dalit refugees were used by the left parties as pawns in their power game. To lure Dalits at a time Arya-Brahminist communist leader Jyoti Basu took a trip to Chhattisgarh and promised Bengali dalit refugees to rehabilitate them in Marichjhanpi in Sunderban of West Bengal. The Dalit refugees extended their wholehearted support to the Arya-Brahminist led left front in their political mobilization. The Dalit refugees were of great help not only in mass demonstrations but also during election battles. It was the number, enthusiasm and initiative of Bengali Dalit refugees that enabled the Arya-Brahminists of left front to counter the money power of the Arya-Brahminists of the Congress. It was the Bengali dalit refugees who brought the left to power in West Bengal. As late as 1974 Jyoti Basu had demanded in a public meeting that the Dandakaranya refugees be allowed to settle in the Sundarbans. In 1974-75 leading members of the subsequent Left Front government, including Ram Chatterjee, had assured the refugees that if the Left Front came to power they would arrange their resettlement in West Bengal and at a meeting of the eight Left Front parties in 1975 it was resolved that the refugees would be settled in the Sundarbans. In 1977, Bengali Dalit refugees who had been promised permanent plots and a life of respectability in countless communist election manifestos in West Bengal before 1977, genuinely believed their misery had ended in 1977.

In 1977, when the Left Front came to power, they found their refugee supporters had taken them at their word and sold their belongings and land to return to West Bengal. In all, 1,50,000 refugees arrived from Dandakaranya expecting the government to honour its word. The Arya-Brahminist led communist government started to forcibly send them back. Many refugees however managed to escape to various places inside West Bengal. But after Bengali Dalits reached Bengal, they realised the Arya-Brahminist government of Marxist communist parties had no plans for them. They had no choice but head for uninhabited parts and scrounge out an existence on the islands in the Sunderbans.

Bengali Dalits Converted

Marichjhanpi Their Heavenly Abode

From the month of May the same year about 30,000 Dalit refugees, under the leadership of Satish Mandal, president of the Udbastu Unnayansil Samity, a former close associate of the Communist Party's refugee programme, sailed to Morichjhanpi and set up a settlement there. Morichjhanpi island, being 125 square miles, was so big that the refugees were keen that the islanders join them so as to improve the dire economic situation of the Sundarbans region as a whole rather than squabble over land which, being neither fertile nor theirs to distribute, was not worth fighting over. In contrast to the ruling elite of their villages, composed essentially of large landowners who aspired to migrate towards Kolkata, the Sundarban islanders developed fraternal bonding with the Dalit refugees. They saw the East Bengali Dalit leaders as more apt to represent them. This was because they both were poor, rural, and low caste and hence not afraid to take up manual work, such as fishing, and knew, through the twists of fate what it was like to fight for their rights. The Dalit refugees were better educated and more articulate and because, having lost everything, they were having the moral courage to face the Kolkata ruling class with their rural concerns.

The settlers – both refugees as well as islanders who had come from the adjoining villages, initially built some makeshift huts along the cultivated area of the island. Most of them survived by catching crab and fish and with the help of the islanders, by selling their products in the nearby villages. The islanders often expressed their great admiration (awe) at the way the East Bengali Dalit refugees rapidly established Morichjhanpi as one of the best-developed islands of the Sundarbans – within a few months tube-wells had been dug, a viable fishing industry, saltpans, dispensaries and schools established.Stories abounded about the spirit of bonhomie and solidarity between Dalit refugees and Dalit islanders whose similar experiences of marginalization brought them together to bond over a common cause which was to fight for a niche for themselves; this would become a metaphor for the reclamation of 'voice' in the new West Bengal. The villagers explained the refugees' bid to stay on in Morichjhanpi as a dignified attempt to forge a new respectable identity for themselves as well as a bid to reclaim a portion of the West Bengali political rostrum by the poorest and most marginalized.

Massacre of Morichjhanpi Dalits By the Arya-Brahminist Fake Communists led left Front of W.B.

Despite this display of self-help and cooperative spirit, the Arya-Brahminist Jyoti Basu government persisted in its effort to clear Morichjhanpi of the settlers. Jayanta, an islander who had gone there as a young man with his wife and baby child reflecting on the hope the arrival of the settlers had brought them, had longed to start a new life in Morichjhanpi where for once, the aspirations and rights of the lowest would be established. But he and his family had barely been there five months when their shack was burned down by the police. He wondered why the government was bent on reclaiming Morichjhanpi for tigers when it wasn't even part of the tiger reserve. The other sore point was that the refugees had been promised land in the Sundarbans.

Dalit refugees were looted, their female flock was raped. The media started to underscore the plight of the refugees of Morichjhanpi and wrote in positive terms about the progress they were making in their rehabilitation efforts. Photographs were published in the Amrita Bazar Patrika of the February 8, 1979 and the opposition members in the state assembly staged a walkout in protest of the government's methods of treating Bengali Dalits. Fearing more backlash, and seeing the public growing warm towards the refugees' cause, the chief minister declared Morichjhanpi out of bounds for journalists and condemned their reports saying that these contributed to the refugees' militancy and self-importance and instead suggested that the press should support their eviction on the grounds of national interest (read Arya-Brahminist interest). For greater protection, the 30 launches were covered with a wire netting and police camps were established in the surrounding villages.

After the failure of the economic blockade (announced on January 26 – an ironical twist to Republic Day!) in May the same year, the government started forcible evacuation. Thirty police launches encircled the island thereby depriving the settlers of food and water; they were also tear-gassed, their huts razed, their boats sunk, their fisheries and tube-wells destroyed, and those who tried to cross the river were shot at. To fetch water, the settlers had now to venture after dark and deep into the forested portion of the island and forced to eat wild grass. Several hundred men, women and children were believed to have died during that time and their bodies thrown in the river. Jayanta, remembered how when the refuges saw their children dying of cholera and starvation they tried to break the cordon formed by the police and the military launches. A 'war' was on, one group fighting with wooden arrows and stones, the other with guns, and loudspeakers. As one islander put it, the launches started looking like 'stinging swarms of floating beehives'. On the January 31, 1979 the police killed 36 persons in firing. Journalists and opposition political leaders were disallowed from entering the vicinity of the zone selected for the operation. The killing fields lay on an island on the muddy river. The police was efficient enough to seal off the place with motor boats. Journalists could only hear the gunshots and cries of people from a distance. We shall never know exactly how many people lost their lives. According to many of the islanders only 25 per cent of those who had come to Morichjhanpi left the island alive. Those killed in the Morichjhanpi massacre are yet to find justice, and their stories yet to appear in histories. The massacres of Dalits by CPI-M led communist government can be compared with the massacres committed by Yahya khan in East Pakistan and Hitler in IInd world war.

Based on Sikar (1982) and Biswas' (1982) pieces, Ross Mallick estimates that in all 4,128 families who had come from Dandakaranya to find a place in West Bengal perished of cholera, starvation, disease, exhaustion, in transit while sent back to their camps, by drowning when their boats were scuttled by the police or shot to death. How many of these deaths actually occurred in Morichjhapi we shall never know. The ease and brutality with which the Arya-Brahminist communist led left front government wiped off all signs of the bustling life which had been built there in the last 18 months were proof for the villagers that they were considered completely irrelevant to the more influential urban Arya-Brahminist Bengali community . In two weeks' time all the plots had been destroyed and the refugees 'packed' off. Now half-broken embankments and the few fruit trees planted by the settlers during their stay remain as the only vestiges of previous human habitation on Morichjhanpi, the rest has been reclaimed by the forest.

These brutalities of the government was possible because it was backed by the Arya-Brahminists who perceived the refugees and the Sundarbans islanders as lesser beings. These events were recounted as a 'war' between two groups of people, one backed by state power and modern paraphernalia, the other dispossessed and who had only their hands and the spirit of companionship. 'We Dalits were vermin that our shacks had to be burned down?' asked Dalits.

'Organizer' In February 1979 wrote that the Marichjhapi massacre has been "forgotten" in Bengal because the Marxists were very successful in making the West Bengal intellectuals prostitutes after petty jobs and government housing plots. This much vengeance on bengali dalits did not satisfy the blood-thirst of Arya-Brahminists so the …

Arya-Brahminist Fake Communists led

Left-front of W. B. made Dalits Tiger-Food

The corpses Bengali Dalit refugees killed by police gave tigers the taste of human flesh. Tigers initially were afraid of people. They shared the products of the forest and rivers with people. But now, due to the legitimizing of Dalit killings in the name of tiger protection by the ruling elite they had begun to treat the Dalit islanders as 'tiger-food. The tigers, taking the cue from the Dalit killing by 'Arya-Brahminists' had started feeding on indigenous Dalits. Man-eating became part of the tiger's nature.

In the early days, tigers, did not reproduce quickly. As the government gave them fertilizing injections, their reproduction rate had gone up. Arya-Brahminist led left front government hides the true figures of tigers and always quote ridiculously small numbers". Whether the indigenous Dalit islanders lived or died made no difference to W.B. Government because Dalits were just 'tiger-food'. "They have created hybrid tigers which are even more dangerous" said an islander. Getting killed by a tiger in the Sundarbans in the 1980s was a terrifying prospect for family members, co-workers, even the entire village, of those who worked in the forest. The victim's body had to be abandoned in the forest for fear that the forest officials would get to know about it. The new widow and the victim's children were forbidden to cry and taught to say that their father had died of diarrhea because if exposed, the family members were exhorted to pay for the dead trespasser, and were, in effect, treated like criminals.

The fact that the same government that once declared refugee resettlement in the Sundarbans illegal and did not hesitate to wipe out all Bengali Dalit refugees of Marichjhahpi island in the name of protecting the forest reserves, now seemed to be ready to install a nuclear power plant and risk the much-vaunted resources of the Sundarbans proves beyond doubt that the Dalits massacre was performed by Arya-Brahminists led left front only to avenge Dalits.

Arya-Brahminist leaders of Communist party has a long history of betrayal with the people's struggle. They had betrayed Telangana revolt of farmers in the protection of Brahmanism. The Arya-Brahminist leaders of Communist party had betrayed Dalit refugees by separating themselves from revolt of Dalit refugee farmers in 1958 in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, during the sixties and seventies communist parties flinging Dalit refugees in movement against Mahajans and money lenders had separated themselves from this just struggle of Dalits. In late sixties the communists in terai played the role of landbrokers in the same way as chief minister Buddhadev is doing it in West Bengal on full scale. In Bengali Refugee areas the communist villages were Netaji Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Pipulia, Chandipur, etc. Most of the communist peasants in these villages lost their land and Arya-Brahminist leaders had their hand. With these examples of the betrayal of Arya-Brahminist communist party leaders Hon. Pulin Biswas had asked his Dalit refugees not to go to Marichjhanpi because there shall be no place for Dalit refugees in West Bengal. Therefore no Dalit refugee from Uttar pradesh went to Marichjhanpi.

After receiving every support of Mahapran Jogendranath Mandal in elections, the Arya-Brahminist leaders of communist party always ensured that the Mahapran Jogendranath Mandal is defeated in every election and he could be established as a failed leader. The Arya-Brahminists riding the government also jailed Mahapran Jogendranath Mandal in 1959 for raising the voice in support of Dalit Bengali refugees. Mahapran died on 5th October 1968. The Bengali Arya-Brahminist leadership never demanded citizenship for the refugees.

Bengali Dalits labeled As

Alien Intruders for Persecution and Exploitation

According to the law passed in 1955 in parliament every partition affected person who come to India shall be considered as Indian national. Their children born in India shall be natural citizens of India. Those who have left India and settled in foreign countries shall not be treated as Indian citizens. Above law was against the interest of Arya-Brahminists because with the right of citizenship Dalit Bengali refugees shall have voting right and they will oust Arya-Brahims joining hands with OBC, Muslims and Adivasis after realising that the only aspiration of Arya-Brahminists is to avenge Bengali Dalit refugees. Bengali Dalit refugees had raised the slogan"vote ours, rule yours shall not be tolerated" Therefore Arya-Brahminists of all parties like Congress, BJP, Communist parties etc. unanimously passed a black law "citizenship Amendment Act 2003″ without any discussion on it on 9th January 2004. This bill ensures that the two crore indigenous Bengali Dalit refugees are converted in to alien intruders in their own country.

1) Any person of the world is entitled to apply for citizenship of India but this Bill says that under no circumstance the refugees from Bangladesh can get citizenship of this country. The Bengali Dalit refugees are declared not-eligible to apply for Indian citizenship. According to earlier rule the Hindu refugees were entitled to live in India. This permission was also withdrawn. This is defying Indian constitution because it does not allows discrimination on any ground.

2) According to this law the Bengali Dalit refugees living in this country for last fifty years or more and children born to them during 1971-86 shall also be treated alien intruders and shall be driven out of the country after penalizing and persecuting them. Arya-Brahminists of India have conveniently forgotten that according to international law a child born in any country has natural right to become citizen of that country. This exposes the beastly Arya-Brahminist Demon-cracy of India.

3) Persons living in India without valid documents from Bangla Desh (East Pakistan) shall be treated as alien intruder and shall be entitled for punishment in cash of Rs. 50,000/- and imprisonment of 5 years. After that they shall be driven out of the country.

Refugees coming from east Pakistan did not require to obtain any passport or other document till 1952 because the border was opened for them. This is very much recorded in Nehru-liyakat agreement. Majority of the Dalit Bengali refugees due to inconveniences and lack of facilities in refugee camps were compelled to scatter different places, do labour and live in shanties made of grass and straws. For bread they had to migrate from one place to other after demolition of their shanties by municipal authorities. How can anybody maintain and produce such document after such a long period when their 2nd and 3rd generation is also living in India ? In the Murshidabad district of West Bengal more than ninety percent of the population (including non-refugees) could not present the required documents to prove their citizenship.

A systematic process to disenfranchise the poor is at work so that they have no voice in democratic governance or decision making any more. Thirteen lac names have been deleted in Bengal from the electoral list in last assembly elections as the poor hut dwellers could not prove their nationality. The same process speedened throughout the county by the Arya-Brahminists riding governments will disfranchise all poor people having no nationality proof. It is not only the human rights of "illegal migrants" that is under threat at present. All marginalized groups, as well as large sections of the informal working class, are being pushed to the edges of society. Much of this is being done in the name of 'protecting the environment' or 'beautifying the landscape' or 'preserving our heritage'.

4) To tell Dalit Bengali refugees that they are sub-animal creatures, Arya-Brahminists riding the government of India has granted dual citizenship to their Arya-Brahminists who have settled in foreign countries and become foreign nationals. In addition to that 15% seats in educational institutes of India are reserved for them. But the Dalits whose forefathers shed their blood for the liberation of India their children of undivided India can not have Indian citizenship.

5) According to following news the Arya-Brahminists are sensitive in granting citizenship to their Arya-Brahminist refugees but reluctant to grant the same to the indigenous Dalits of this country :-

i) It is estimated that over 17,000 refugees living in western Rajasthan are yet to be granted citizenship. As a result, a large number of the refugees who belong to the lower caste communities, have been denied rehabilitation under the SC/ST scheme, says the convener of the Pak Visthapith Sangh, Hindu Singhj Sodha. Incidentally, Gehlot's predecessor Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had taken up cudgels on behalf of the Sindhi migrants and helped to rehabilitate a group from the 1971 war. Way back in 1972, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had staged a protest against sending the refugees to Pakistan in Barmer and had been arrested for it. (The Times of India – Internet Edition Date: September 1, 2001 )

ii) The Arya-Brahminists have granted citizenship to their Arya-Brahminist brethren. The Indian state government of Rajasthan has started organizing special camps to grant Indian citizenship to thousands of Pakistan's minority Hindu nationals went to India on valid travel documents but refused to return now residing in the state. The camps were organized after the federal government approved the grant of citizenship to these people. The Gujarat state government will also follow suit. (Daily Times, 7 January 2005)

iii) The Centre has delegated powers to Gujarat government to grant citizenship to nearly 900 immigrants from Pakistan who have been residing in four districts of the state for the past several years. A senior Home department official told PTI that 900 refugees living in Ahmedabad, Patan, Banaskantha and Kutch districts, mainly of Sindhi and Koli community and those who have lived for a minimum of five years in India would be given citizenship. The applicants also have to give affidavits stating that they were giving up Pakistani citizenship and also had procured renunciation certificate. (New Kerala, 3 January 2005)

iv) Each year, 1,800 to 3,000 Tibetans flee from Tibet. Once The Tibetans fleeing from China reach the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu, they get entry permit from Indian mission. Since February 2002, the Indian mission here has been issuing them special entry permits to travel to India from Nepal. India continues to provide travel documents to Tibetan refugees in Nepal Currently, the embassy has been issuing 15 special entry permits a day, on an average. Indian embassy officials said they were not governed by Chinese or Nepalese reactions while issuing the entry permits. (IANS, Kathmandu, January 6, 2004, The New Indian Express, 7 January 2005)

6) Threatening of deportation to Bangla Desh, the Arya-Brahminists and their agents can use the poor Dalits and the Bangla speaking Muslims as bonded labourers, political campaigners and even can be compelled them to execute criminal intentions of the Arya-Brahminist exploiters.

7) As per the law of United Nation no person can live in any country without obtaining its nationality. Such a person is not entitled to receive justice and can not buy any property of that country. Whatever earnings he has made could be declared illegal. Therefore, the moment a child is born he comes with the right of nationality in that country. (Sangharshasathi Mulniwasi Bharat, 22 January 2006) Thus the Arya-Brahminists may deprive Bengali Dalit refugees everything they have.

False Arya-Brahminist Propaganda

Against Bengali Dalit Refugees and Indigenous Muslims

In order to isolate Bengali Dalit refugees from the other communities of Dalits of India Arya-Brahminist exploiters have been launching a fierce false propaganda as explained below.

1) False propaganda that :Bengali refugees are Pakistani Muslims. Because the Arya-Brahminist propaganda evil, fierce and false propaganda that the Bengali refugees are Muslim terrorists the Bengali Dalit refugees could not get any sympathy and help from common dalit masses. On the contrary they developed hate for their own Bengali dalit refugee brethen whose forefathers had protected self-respect of Dr. Ambedkar.

Arya-Brahminists have also have been launching fierce and false propaganda that the Assam Muslims are Bangla Deshi intruders

Assam Governor had alleged that about 6000 Bangladesh nationals enter Assam everyday. This allegation seems false because Muslims were about 40% when Assam was merged with India in 1947. Sizeable Muslim presence in Assam was in existence even before the advent of the British. Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi in a television interview asked Assam Governor Ajay Singh to provide facts to substantiate his report that 6,000 immigrants enter the state everyday. But the Governor surprisingly remained mum, as if, he did not hear the challenge of his Chief Minister. According governor's statistics 1,80,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every month and in a year the figure will stand at 12,96,000. According to the census of 2001, the total population of Assam was 2,66,55,528. Among them, according Indian media, the Muslims constitute 30 per cent of the total population of the state. If so, their number now should be around 79,96,659. If one year's intrusion is added, the present number of the Muslims should reach at 92, 56,659. According to the census of 1991 Muslims were 63, 73,204. This proves that the Muslims of Assam are not immigrant or outsiders, rather most of them are the sons of the soil. Profulla Kumar Mohanta, who got to power after five thousand Muslims were killed in the state during the anti-settlers movement in the eighties despite hectic efforts failed to prove the Muslims as illegal in Assam. He ruled Assam twice, but found little Muslims illegal. For this reason, Mohanta had to tone down his anti-Muslim slogan.

After fall of Gurgobinda in the 14th century, many Ahom people adjoining Sylhet converted to Islam. During the British period, thousand of Bengali speaking Muslims were brought to and settled in Assam to bring arable lands under cultivation. The descendants of these Muslims now form 30% of the total population of Assam. These descendants of those Bengali speaking Muslims forgot their language and culture, but not their religion. This new generation Muslims of Assam feel pride to identify themselves Ahoms, treat Assam as their motherland, use Ahomiya language in their daily life, send their children to schools where Ahomiya is the medium of instruction. Other than their religious activities they are hundred per cent Ahoms. They cannot be branded as foreigners or Bangladeshis. So it is itself illegal and unjustified and mere violation of human rights to brand and harass the Muslims in Assam as illegal, outsiders or infiltrators.

According to press reports, at least, one lac soldiers of Indian Army are deployed in Assam. Six battalions of BSF, 10 battalions of CRP, five companies of the Punjab Police Commandos, and one battalion of State Rifles have been deployed in the state. One can have an idea if one looks into their names and figures. Ministry of Home Affairs, BSF:Organisation – total 157 battalions Artillery – 7 BSF Artillery Regiments, Water Wing Air Wing Signals Regiment 10 Frontier Headquarters 39 Sectors Assam Rifles: 41 battalions 3 Maintenance Groups Signal Unit Construction Company 9 Range Headquarters Indo-Tibetan Border Police: 29 battalions (4 specialist Battalions) over 35,569 personnel 755 Officers Other Paramilitary Forces: Coast Guard, Rastriya Rifles, Special Frontier Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Home Guards, Intelligence Agencies: National :- Research and Analysis Wing , Intelligence Bureau, Joint Intelligence Committee, Intelligence Agencies: Military: -Aviation Research Centre (ARC), Directorate of Military Intelligence, Directorate of Air Intelligence, Directorate of Naval Intelligence, Special Security Bureau Other outfits are : – All-India Radio Monitoring Service (AIRMS), Joint Cipher Bureau, Signal Intelligence Directorate, Law enforcement Agencies:- Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Railway Protection Force, Rapid Action Force (RAF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), National Security Guards (NSG)-has a strength of 7330 personnel, Special Protection Group (SPG) All these agencies have strong presence in Assam. Moreover, India erected barbed wire fence along every possible point of 272km-long Assam-Bangladesh border. Heavy security forces have been deployed in those hilly areas where India could not yet erect the fence. Observation towers and posts are seen after every 500 yards.

Therefore propaganda of heavy Muslim infiltration in Assam is a political one, launched whenever national and provincial elections approach. This propaganda started only when Dalit Bengali refugees started coming to India to flee from persecution. The purpose of this false Arya-Brahminist propaganda is to 1) Hide from the Indian masses that the immigrants are Dalits so that they receive no help from their Dalits brethen of India 2) To hide from the masses that it is not the Muslims who capture and control the key positions of Assam, but the Arya-Brahminist-Banias who came from West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and other states of India. 3) To speeden RSS agenda to spread communal tension and bake Arya-Brahminist breads on the pyre of Bahujans.

The toiling masses of Assam want to get rid of these Arya-Brahminist-Baniyas who came from outside states and became rulers of Assam. To frustrate this sentiment and divert their attention from the real Arya-Brahminist outsiders, the vested quarters let loose its operatives and agents in Assam and elsewhere in the region to create anti-Muslim sentiment. The utterance of Assam's Governor meant to start this hate campaign again. As a result a group of Dibrugarh-based youngsters got together to form Chiring Chapori Yuva Mancha (CCYM). Some other groups like All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad, Tai Ahom Students Union and Motok Students Union also joined the campaign. It is well known in Assam that these student organizations are directly or indirectly controlled by RAW. The fear among Assamese is being created that non-Assamese are taking over jobs, land, and are also threatening to turn Assamese into a minority in their own state. This was a conspiracy of both the BJP and the AASU for their narrow political gain, which would ultimately lead to ethnic blood-bath. Various organizations have expressed concern over the harassment of the religious minorities and the attempts to revive the anti-foreigners' agitation in Assam under the garb of a campaign against illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Forcible  deportation of indigenous Muslims

In 1993, Narasimha Rao government launched Operation Pushback which authorized the police to pick up thousands of poor Bengali Muslims from all over Delhi and to send them to the border. Central Government has delegated its authority to State Government and State Government has in turn delegated it to the police. Such action is taken under Foreigners Act according to which, action can be taken on anybody's complaint without any adequate primary evidence. The onus is on then accused to prove that he is an Indian Citizen. Under the current law and Action Plan, the deportation order is passed without any hearing and without disclosing the reasons which led to the conclusion that he/she is a foreign national. 'Operation Push-Back' is being implemented in a highly improper manner. Within 10 days, the accused is judged as foreign national and taken to the border to be deported. This Act does not confirm to our Constitutional norms. If the Act itself is unjust, then how can one expect justice.

Bangladesh refused to accept these people – claiming that they were not Bangladeshis at all – and many were stuck in the no-man's land on the edge of the border. According to The Citizen's Campaign for Preserving Democracy, if you are a Muslim and Bengali is the language you speak, the Delhi police needs no further proof that you are an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant to be summarily deported.

Starting from 'Operation Push Back' in 1993, thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims have been picked up from various working class settlements all over Delhi and forcibly pushed inside Bangladesh. It has never been clearly established whether these people were actually from Bangladesh or not. Instances from various parts of Delhi have shown that Indian citizens from West Bengal and Assam, working as rag-pickers in Delhi, were routinely arrested on the charge of being illegal immigrants. The findings also revealed that, The police relied solely and absolutely on the informer's word. All pleas and submission of proof by the detainees – of authoritative documents issued by agencies of Delhi government or the Union government – invariably fell on deaf ears.

The raids included swoops on the so-called illegal migrants in the dead of night and rounding up of men, women and children from theirbastis. People were not even given enough time to get dressed properly or collect their documents. During other times, family members, including minors, caught in the raid were forced to face the situation alone, without being reunited with their families. Many complained of being beaten and threatened when they began to plead their case. All pleas and entreaties of the detainees for a hearing were effectively silenced by physical assaults and verbal abuse. According to the conclusions of "Immigrants in Bombay : A Fact Finding Report." conducted by Shama Dalwai and Irfan Engineer , There have been several complaints of policemen picking up Bengali-speaking Muslims at random and abusing the procedure in order to extort money. There have also been complaints of policemen destroying documents on the ground that they are fake. Police declined to accept Bengali-language documents as proof of Indian citizenship and demanded an English version. Commonly used documents – like electoral identity cards, ration cards, school certificates, and certificates from MLAs and gram panchayats were not accepted. Informally, the study team was told that only documents showing proof of ownership of land are admissible. Given the economic status of those arrested and the fact that, in India, more and more migrants to Indian metros are landless labour, unable to eke out a living from daily wages, this is an unrealistic demand and cannot be met by any poor. It is strange that the Indian government is reluctant to accept other documents issued by its own departments. In a few cases, these documents were torn up by the state authorities on the specious grounds that they were false and fabricated. Police harass Indian Muslims to make some money. It is observed that those who had the financial means to offer and pay bribes were usually set free, regardless of any other proof. Interviewees recounted how those unable to pay bribes were detained and then (presumably) sent ahead. A rough calculation based on an average amount of Rs. 1,000 paid per individual to be freed suggests that there are considerable sums to be made, including the amounts extorted by the informer.

As per the Action Plan, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO)/civil authority acts as the coordinating agency. The notification issued by the Delhi Administration in pursuance of its power under section 3 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, empowers the FRRO to scrutinize the proposals for deportation, and satisfy itself of their illegal status by providing the concerned person with a hearing. However, the study team did not observe the detainees being produced before the FRRO on any occasion during its visits over three months to the FRRO's office, although some rag-pickers mentioned that they were sometimes briefly produced before the FRRO. From the accounts of some detainees, it was learnt that the conditions of detention fall far below the prescribed national and international standards : –

1) In violation of national and international rules, both men and women detainees are kept together in captivity on the ground floor, i.e. the Baraat Ghar of Delhi.

2) The basic amenities provided here are woefully inadequate. There are only two toilets in the building, one of which is used exclusively by the police staff, and the other is shared by male and female detainees, in violation of their right to privacy.

3) Even to use the toilet facility detainees have to seek prior permission, which is refused sometimes.

4) Items of necessity, such as blankets, are inadequate. According to one narrative, a woman detainee who had two children asked for an extra blanket because one blanket was not enough for them in biting cold. Not only was she refused the extra blanket, but was also slapped across the face for her audacity. Other items of necessity, such as milk for the children, have to be bought from the police at excessive rates.

5) No regular visitation rights are available for the relatives of the detainees.

6) Detainees are not allowed to offer prayers (namaaz), in direct violation of Fundamental Rights (article 25, Constitution of India, that guarantees freedom to profess and practice religion).

7) Detainees are forced to perform odd jobs for the police, like washing their motorcycles, sweeping the floor, cleaning toilets etc., which will attract section 374 of the Indian Penal Code that proscribes unlawful forced labour.

8) The team also heard several complaints of detainees being physically assaulted by the police. Slaps, kicks and punches were part of the treatment meted out to detainees. Degrading forms of punishment, like forcing detainees to squat in the murga position, were routinely reported.

Right from roundup and arrest, to the supposed 'hearing' and deportation, no lawful procedure is being followed by the authorities. The entire process contributes to and manifests the criminalization and communalization of the state and the corruption of its legal and judicial institutions.

From the FRRO the arrested persons are taken to the MCD Ren Basera, where the police are waiting for them. They are kept at the Ren Basera until there are sufficient numbers to fill a railway bogie. Subsequently, they are taken to the Old Delhi railway station in closed vehicles and put aboard a train. The Delhi police accompany them to Malda station in West Bengal, from where they are transferred to a Border Security Force (BSF) camp.

Diplomatic protocol requires that when deportation takes place, the embassy or high commission or any other representative of the State of the country of origin of the deportee be informed about the decision. This has not been undertaken, resulting in a breach of international protocol.

As the Bangladesh Government is not even informed about deportation, their border security force BDR refuses to take them.Foreign Minister Mustafizur Rahman of Bangla Desh spelled it out by saying: "we will not accept (the deportees) unless the Indian authorities provide documents that they are our citizens"Still, Khaleda Zia, then Bangladesh's prime minister, said: 'They are not our headache since they are not Bangladeshis' (The Economic Times, October 15, 1992; see also Tribune, October 10, 1992).Bangladeshi Government calls the entire operation as 'Operation Push-In' as according to it the Indian Government seeks to push its citizens inside their borders. Any sovereign nation will find it offensive and violation of their sovereignty the manner in which 'Operation Push-Back' is being conducted unilaterally by India.The BDR therefore threatens that it would not hesitate even to shoot the people pushed into its territory.

Since the required procedure has not been followed, care has to be taken by the BSF that their counterparts in Bangladesh (BDR) do not know that the deportees are being pushed across the border. Hence, the deportees have to be released in batches of two, and that too in the middle of the night. Thus, it may take several days for the entire lot of deportees to be evacuated from the BSF camp, and during the entire time armed guards are deployed to ensure that the people remain concealed within the camp. The people, both men and women, remain completely at the mercy and whims of the guards. Several incidents of rape, sexual harassment and physical violence have been reported by those who have somehow returned from the border. When the people are forced across the border, all their possessions are taken away along with any signs that may point to their Indian origin. If they have any money, that too is taken away. The general trend appears to be to forcibly push the people into No-Man's Land, regardless of the weather, the condition of the people, and the terrain (jungle or river). They are warned that if they turn back they will be shot as infiltrators. Thus police atrocities become inevitable part of the whole operation as they feel that unless they are terrorized by atrocities, they will return. Therefore they beat men and rape women. This is highly condemnable and indicates that humanity is missing in the police force. This is mainly a result of undue responsibilities thrust on the police by the Government. As the end of 20th century is coming close, such inhuman treatment is unthinkable merely on the ground that the person concerned is not a citizen of our country. Following few examples shall make the situation crystal clear.

i) Indo-Bangladesh relations have been deteriorating for more than a year for several reasons, both commercial and political. The concerted and widespread attempt to push in Bangla-speaking Indian nationals on the plea that they are Bangladeshi intruders is the latest move by India to intimidate Bangladesh and bring it to heel. In the last week or so India has made at least 30 attempts to push in Bangla-speaking Indian Muslims. They have assembled several hundred helpless, indigent people along various border outposts and are holding them under the open sky in inhuman conditions. (Holiday frontpage, 31 January 2003)

On 31st January 2003. On this day a BSF vehicle arrived at the 147th pillar carrying 51 Bangladeshis (21 women and 30 men and children). These people were dropped off at the no-mans-land. On entering the Bangladeshi territory they were all violently beaten by the BDR officers of Kazipur who again drove these people towards the Indian side of the border. The local women from the Bangladeshi side of the border entreated the BDR not to beat the women; however, their fervent requests fell on deaf ears. To escape this beating all men barring three ran away while the women and children took desperate refuge in the bamboo forest by the Indian half of the border. The Indian BSF barred their re-entrance into Indian territory at gunpoint. The BSF created a human barricade to prevent the locals from the Indian side of border from offering any assistance or aid to these tortured and torment people. (By Krishna Banerjee & Purna Banerjee)

ii) As per the official estimate the number of people killed in BSF firing in South Bengal districts bordering Bangladesh more than doubled in the last one year. The victims are often branded as infiltrators, ISI agents and smugglers. Even women and children are not spared. The killing of a middle-aged woman by the BSF sparked some debates. Apart from often indiscriminate firings families trying to cross the border find themselves stranded in no man's land with both the BSF and the BDR claiming that they do not belong to their part of the world for want of legal papers. Our investigative report suggests that very few people in the border areas have evidences of citizenship. Sometimes to make a political statement they are rounded up by security forces of either side and pushed to the no-man's land as happened to 213 people, largely snake charmers in Satgacchi in early February. An overwhelming number of those stranded were children yet they were kept in bitter cold and many of them became afflicted with respiratory tract infection. (As the shadows lengthened, the officers walked back and so did the media team. (among these snake charmers) shrill voice though cut through: "saab, if possible, please tell our people back in Sabor that we are in the dire distress. ("Kinsuk Basu, Satgachi, Hidustan Times, February 4) Both India and Bangladesh have well-established laws of dealing with "aliens" and are signatories to any number of international conventions against torture of children and yet in practice hapless children in the borders are consistently victimized. The tension seemed to reach break point late in the morning; soon after the crucial sector command talks between the BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) reached a stalemate. The BDR refused to let in the 213 gypsy snake charmers – stranded in no-man's land for a week. So there they stood, or rather sat most of the time, huddling together in severe cold in the open for six days and nights, with guns of the two forces facing each other.

In the past few years we have witnessed repeated border clashes where besides the government security forces, local populations on both sides have taken part in what one newspaper commented on one such occasion, this practice of people being "pushed in" or "pushed out" as "the dance of death". These villages are being encouraged to become "patriotic", take up lathis (sticks), tangis (broad-blade knives), spears, swords, and wherever made available guns, to strengthen the border, and "resist the illegal intruders". As news of the talks' failure spread, hundreds of Bangladeshi youths, who were waiting at the border, marched towards and swords and shouting anti-India slogans. Fearing an attack, the stranded gypsies began crying for help. Soon, hundreds of villagers from the Indian side rushed towards the zero line armed with bamboo sticks and stones. The BDR immediately positioned its forces and the BSF ordered its men to crawl closer. For a nerve-wracking 45 minutes, a showdown seemed certain, till both forces gradually withdrew. The BSF and the state government declared an alert along the border and rushed in more forces. "We have told the district administration to evacuate civilians in case there is firing," said DIG (Headquarters), (Narayan Ghosh, in Kolkata. Hidustan Times Correspondence, Satgachi/Kolkata/New Delhi, Hindustan Times, February 4, 2003)

iii) Aktar Ahmed of the Bangladesh interior ministry and head of the Bangladesh delegation at the two-day meeting in Dhaka said that we have expressed our concern over the killing of innocent Bangladeshis by Indian Border Security Force (BSF)," More than 50 Bangladeshis have been killed in the last six months by BSF," Most victims were innocent farmers working in their rice fields or tending cattle in Bangladesh territory along the frontier. The BSF said those it shot were smugglers or illegal intruders trying to slip through the porous border. (Reuters July 16, 2006 )

iv) "The BSF killed a middle-aged woman in cold blood a few months back when she went to give food and water to her son working in the field beyond the border fencing. Do they consider her a smuggler or an ISI operative?" retorted Forward Bloc MLA Gobinda Roy. A confidante of agriculture minister Kamal Guha, Roy was one of the conveners of a recent meet in Kolkata to protest 'BSF atrocities' in border districts. "You cannot fight infiltration or terrorism by terrorizing your own people," said state relief minister H.A. Sairani. He and Roy blamed BSF for running a "fiefdom" along the border. They accused the BSF of imposing 'dusk to dawn curfew' in border areas. "This is to facilitate smuggling and trafficking of men and cattle as both BSF and BDR border posts receive payment from border gangs," alleged Roy. (Biswajit Roy,Times of India, February 21, 2003, Page 1)

More and more policemen are being pulled away from their normal duties (i.e., the maintenance of law and order) and being told to concentrate on looking for Bangladeshis. Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party Government of Maharashtra has been deporting Bengali-speaking Muslim zari workers from Mumbai, branding them Bangladeshis. Muslim residents of Howrah, Midnapore, Hooghly and 24-Parganas districts are anxiously waiting for news from their relatives in Mumbai who are mainly engaged as zari, diamond, platinum and gold workers. Alauddin Mollah, one of them, told Frontline that he had not heard from his brother Salim Ali for over a month. He had heard about the raids conducted in parts of Mumbai where Muslim workers from West Bengal live.

The workers returning from Mumbai alleged that the Maharashtra Police made large-scale arrests of Muslims workers, mistaking all of them for Bangladeshi infiltrators simply because they spoke Bengali. "On July 9, the police raided a place under the Satra police station in Mumbai when my friends were asleep. The minute the police heard the terrified workers speak Bengali, they herded them into a van," Sheikh Dilwar, a resident of Bahira in Howrah district, said. Dilwar escaped being picked up since he was sleeping some distance away. News of the incident spread, and within days, almost all Bengali workers in Maharashtra left.

All district collectors in Maharashtra have been instructed to collect the data of the Bengali refugees residing in the state. The collectors in turn have issued a circular that all such persons to submit their citizenship documents within a month, failing which they would be liable for deportation. This has created anxiety among number of Bengali refugees that had settled in Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchirauli districts of Maharastra since fifties.

A crowd of about 3,000 people stopped the Howrah-bound Kurla Express from Mumbai at Ulubearia, 65 km from Calcutta, on the afternoon of July 23, demanding that a batch of 34 persons in the train be set free. These passengers, who included seven women, were Bengali-speaking Muslims, all zari workers. They had been "identified as Bangladeshis" and sent by the Maharashtra Government, with police escort, to be deported to Bangladesh at West Bengal's border town of Bongaon. A section of the crowd even climbed on to the train, and the Maharashtra police personnel who were in the train fired five rounds in the air. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) too fired blank shots. Those who led the protesters, claimed that the deportees had valid documents to prove that they hailed from Barast, Bangaon, Uluberia, Howrah and Panchla in West Bengal.

2. False Propaganda that Bengali Dalit Refugees are criminals and have terrorist links

L. K. Advani, the Deputy Prime Minister (also in charge of the Home portfolio {whom his own daughter in law Gauri accused of sexually exploiting and torturing her mentally), at a gathering of senior police officials in the Capital asked them to track down illegal migrants in the country, the Deputy Prime Minister in harsh and categorical terms said that India would not tolerate these migrants who, under the guise of asylum, indulge in nefarious activities aimed at destabilizing the nation and jeopardizing its security. Setting aside human rights considerations, Advani ordered the immediate deportation of these illegal migrants.

According to the conclusions of "Immigrants in Bombay : A Fact Finding Report." conducted by Shama Dalwai and Irfan Engineer 1) there is hardly any serious danger to our security from the so called Bangladeshi infiltrators. They do not cause any serious problem for our nation as is sought to be made out. The threat and danger is more a product of imagination of the protagonists of Hindutva than real. One field visit clears any such doubts. The filth and squalor in which they exists with their children amply demonstrates that they have come here only for survival. They are more concerned about how to feed their children and hardly have time to think about other issues.We also found the allegations that Bangladeshi immigrants participated in the communal riots as totally baseless. The neighboring Hindus were speaking quite sympathetically about them. During the riots, the neighboring Hindus had not felt any threat from them and were living peacefully in their neighborhood. Would there be such sympathy for them amongst the Hindus staying in the neighborhood if they had participated in the riots? Then why is the SS-BJP government trying to create illusionary danger from them. The issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators was raised by the BJP after demolition of Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992. When it was left without any issue to capture peoples attention. The issue was exploited even for the assembly elections in Delhi. The issue of 'infiltrators' could also pay rich dividends to enter North-East Region where the BJP has no significant existence so far.

3) False Propaganda that India can not tolerate burden of such a huge number of refugees.

This seems reasonable enough till you realize that nobody objects to immigration from Nepal. In fact, we actually encourage Nepalis to come and seek employment in India and have special laws in place that enable them to cross the border without passports and to work without visas. So, why are there enough jobs for Nepalis and not enough jobs for Bangladeshis? But why blame the BJP alone? The Congress is as responsible for creating the scare about illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

According to the conclusions of "Immigrants in Bombay : A Fact Finding Report." conducted by Shama Dalwai and Irfan Engineer, the estimates about infiltrators is not only exaggeration but height of imagination. The refugee figures, are just concoctions. The falsity of such imagination is evident from the fact that there have been different estimates given at different times. There has been not much of a difference in the growth rate of population of districts adjoining Bangladesh and the rest of the country. Even if there are Bangladeshi immigrants, their number is not so much that it can affect our food grain stock or compete with our countrymen for jobs and other scarce resources. Because of the atrocities committed on Bengali Dalit refugees in India, no Bengali Dalits are coming to India from Bangla Desh. Mr. Mukhergee chairman of rehabilitation committee in his report submitted on 31st August on 1981 mentions that there are 5533980 refugees in Bengal. In 10 years the population grows to 20% therefore, it is expected that the said population of refugees should be over one crore. Because it did not happen it proves that after year 1971 negligible number of Bengali Dalits took refuse in India. Census report of India makes it clear that the population growth rate of Bengal has declined from 1.43% to 1.0% and now it is almost zero. This makes it clear that immigration of Bengali Dalits to India is stopped.

Those who have come to India for economical reasons have never demanded Indian nationality. Give all of them a temporary work visa and grant all those citizenship if they pay their taxes and remain good citizens. If America can flourish based on immigrants, we can also be open and generous.

How can Bangla Desh allow 2nd and 3rd generation of refugees in their country after the lapse of 35 years without any documentary proof that they are their citizen ? If the Arya-Brahminists of India had not made golden promises to Bengali Dalit refugees and prevented them from entering the country or had sent them at the very first instance to Bangla Desh, it would have communicated a message to Dalits that the Arya-Brahminists do not want them in India. Then the Dalits would have lived or died for their rights in Bangla Desh itself. Arya-Brahminists riding the government have conveniently forgotten that the Bengali Dalits contributed to the development of India for about 35 years and remain loyal to the country and have no contact with Bangla Desh in any form and who were the citizens of united India and are the victim of partition conspiracy of Arya-Brahminists which these Arya-Brahminists executed with un-matching brutality and shamelessness forcibly pushing them in no man's land to die with hunger, thirst, diseases or with the bullets of either BSF or BDF is an Arya-Brahminist brutality which is several hundred times brutal than the brutality of Zionist of Israel who are considered as the most brute demons.

Persecution of

Indigenous Bengali Dalit-Muslims is on !

Operation Pushback – and its equivalents in other cities – continues to this day even if the name has changed. It is still the responsibility of the police to round up illegal Bangladeshis and to send them back across the border. The Delhi Police, for instance, has ten Task Forces whose primary function is to scour Delhi looking for Bangladeshis.

In 2001, the BJP government in Uttaranchal had denied domicile certificates to the Bengali Dalit refugees settled in the state since early fifties. Some moneylenders turned land Mafia even grabbed their land with the help of police and officials.

Arya-Brahminist chief minister of West Bengal Buddhadev Bhattacharya vomited his hate for Bengali Dalit refugees saying that he will not tolerate Bangla Desh intruders since it affects the balance of social characteristics of the state. Earlier Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya, then West Bengal Home (Police) Minister said that the State Government would prosecute Bangladeshis found to be staying in West Bengal without valid papers and hand them over to the Border Security Force. He also pointed out that the Maharashtra Police had earlier pushed about 800 people back to Bangladesh from West Bengal's border areas without informing the State Government about the action. He asserted that West Bengal had always taken action against Bangladeshi infiltrators, but not in this manner. Mamta Banergee (Brahmin) opposition leader in more aggressive towards Bengali Dalit refugees. She tore the voter list of Gayghata assembly constituency before Loksabha speaker and declared to continue her agitation till the names of alleged Bengali Dalits are not removed. All parties led by Arya-Brahminists have the same inimical attitude towards Bengali Dalits.

Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya had to admit that the in "push-back" operation among the persons thrust into Bangla Desh border 70% of persons used to be Indian nationals. (Bhaskar, 3 June 2003)

In response to a petitioned filed by an Arya-Brahminist organization, the Delhi High court and the supreme court of India had ordered that at least 100 Bangla refugees should be identified each day and thus 3000 refugees should be deported to Bangla Desh.

Home Minister of India in his written reply to Mr. Ramdas Athawale and R. S. Gavai said that all the Bengali Dalit refugees who crossed over after 25th March 1971 shall be forcibly deported to Bangla Desh after they are severely penalized by the court.

According to a news the magistrate of Thane has pronounced 6 month's rigorous imprisonment to so called Bengali Dalit refugees (Samrat, 21 November 2005)

State Governments of India are rigorously implementing the court orders. BJP-BJD government of Orissa has issued notices to 1551 Bengali Dalits who are residing in Nakkal block of Kendrapara District since last 40-50 years, to leave the country within 30 days or they shall be deported forcibly to Bangla Desh. The BJP-BJD government without giving these Bengali Dalits any chance to offer any explanation declared them Bangladeshi intruders.

People of this area were affected by a cyclone in last 10 years which destroyed their documents and other valuables. Most of the Bengali refugees being illiterate and laborers and lacking awareness could not obtain copies of these documents as they had no political connections and they were living far away from the district capital. The government in spite of having records of their nationality in their respective offices was not ready to find them. The similar notices are served to Bangali dalits of Nabarangpur and Malkangiri district.

In Orissa the registration of new born babies in the refugee families are being denied birth certificates. In Orissa the registration of new born babies in the refugee families are being denied birth certificates. The Orissa government stopped no less than two hundred refugee children to sit in high school examination. Birth certificates are being denied to newborn babies. BPL card, ration Card, PAN, etc have been stalled. Names of refugees in the voters' list have been deleted en masse.According to Hindustan Times, government had asked people of Jiyaganj and Lalbag of Murshidabad to produce 19 documents in support of their Indian nationality. Over 90.60% persons did not have any of these documents. These makes it clear that these Indian nationals in the absence of these documents would be deported to Bangla Desh alleging then Bangla Deshi intruders.

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