As agitations continue to spread in Assam against a recent central notification allowing non-Muslim (read Hindu) migrants from Bangladesh to settle even without any valid documents, the Centre, taking cue from the European countries, is considering dispersing them across several states instead of keeping them just in Assam. Highly placed sources in the government said the Centre is evolving a plan to distribute the non-Muslim Bangladeshi population to several states as Assam alone cannot bear such an enormous load of population. The plan seems to have also stemmed because of ruling BJP dispensation's fear of political backlash in Assam against it for forcing native population to share finite land resources with "illegal migrants" that can have a bearing on the next year's state assembly elections.
The Union home ministry notification of September 7 that allows persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014 to stay on without any valid documents immediately sparked off agitations by over a dozen organisations in Assam, including All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP). They claim the notification is an abrogation of Assam Accord of 1985 that states that foreigners who came to Assam on or after 25 March, 1971 will be expelled. The Accord was arrived at on 15 August 1985 after a prolonged anti-Foreigners agitation in Assam.
"We are working out on the modalities and procedures of the distribution and will soon be talking to states about it to bring them on board. Hopefully, the states will see the reason and accommodate them," said a senior official.
The Bangladeshi Hindu migrant population living in Assam alone is expected to be in several lakhs and has to distributed among close to a dozen states so that it does not become a troubling issue.
"We have a sterling example of European countries that have worked out a solution for accommodating thousands of refugees from Syria, Lebanon and other Asian and African countries. Why can't it be done within a country," said the official. However, the decision to issue a notification seems to have been taken in a rush without working out modalities of distributing the migrants across the country as the Centre is has not made any guidelines, procedures or methods of detecting people from minority communities in the neighbouring countries. "We are asking all such people to report to the Foreigners Regional Registration Officers (FRROs) but we do not have an estimate of the numbers yet," an official said.
Moreover, the government is yet to decide the status of these people as they are neither refugees nor citizens but have been simply allowed to stay on.
