In 2018, Assam, India, released the latest list of citizens. It's astounding that 4 million residents are not on the list.
And these 4 million "black households" are "illegal immigrants" from Bangladesh.
This can not help some netizens sighed: "The best reward is revenge" - in the past, India sent troops to help help, help Bangladesh to repel Pakistan and successfully establish a country;
Today, large-scale illegal immigration poses a serious threat to India's social harmony and economic well-being.
Although India has the intention to send immigrants, the opposition of the domestic Muslim community, even the condemnation of Bangladesh, the "home country" of Muslim immigrants, and the public opinion of international Muslim countries have always accompanied it, making India "want to cry without tears", which is like a fist on cotton, and it is impossible to exert force at all.
So, what exactly is India's "kindness" to Bangladesh? How did Bangladesh make India cry without tears?
(Location map)
I. Partition of India and Pakistan: Is "Grace" Coming? Conflict and grace coexist
Although India has been blessed with Bangladesh, the contradictions between the two ethnic groups have been piled up for a long time, dating back to the Period of World War II.
World War II had a huge impact on the South Asian continent, and Britain's colonial rule was greatly weakened.
In 1940, the Bengalis made a crucial Lahore Resolution declaring:
"The north-western and eastern regions of Bangladesh, where Muslims are predominant, should form 'independent states' respectively." In this way, the pursuit of a Muslim homeland is politically clear.
The Great Famine of 1943 and the rural uprisings it triggered had a major impact on british colonial rule, and the Bengali peasants were opposing the excessive exploitation of the peasantry by the Hindu landlord class.
Despite calls by some politicians to avoid the division of the entire colony, the differences between the two sides have been hard to return.
Faced with increasing pressure from the colonies for independence, in February 1947, the British announced that they would withdraw from India within a year and a half, and in June of the same year, they advanced the date by two months.
In hasty preparations, Bangladesh was eventually divided into chunks, with Pakistan acquiring 64 percent of the land and 65 percent of the population, while the eastern, northern, and western parts of Bangladesh were incorporated into the Republic of India.
The demarcation of the border also formed 197 enclaves, of which 123 Indian enclaves were surrounded by Pakistan and 74 Pakistani enclaves were scattered over Indian territory.
Eventually, Bangladesh was divided into West Bengal and East Bengal, with more than 5 million Muslims remaining in West Bengal and about 11 million Hindus stranded on Pakistan's east flank.
The division of Bengal became a reality with the partition of India and Pakistan. At this time, East Bengal was part of Pakistan and was known as East Pakistan.
(Colonial Map)
In addition, when the colonies became independent, India inherited most of the bureaucracy and armed forces of the colonial government, and Pakistan could only establish its own system of rule for a short period of time, a process that appeared hasty and fragile in the early stages.
Pakistan's territory is divided into two large parts that do not border each other, which makes it more difficult to rule.
From the very beginning, the center of pakistan's state's rule was in the west, and the eastern region was consciously or unconsciously ignored.
Among state officials, the proportion from the west is higher, which undoubtedly harms the interests of the political elite in the east; There are more immigrant entrepreneurs in the western region and the economy is developing faster, while in the east the economy is slow.
In 1947, Pakistan's promotion of Urdu provoked a split between the East and the West, which was spoken by Muslim elites from North India and the Punjab;
For the people of The Bengal region, it has a distinctly foreign color, and very few people use it, and the forced use of Urdu is a kind of destruction of Bengali culture;
But for Muslims in West Bengal, it is a measure to "purify" the Hindu influences of the Bengal region, as they believe that in the Bengali language, there are too many Sanskrit influences, that is, deeply influenced by Hindu culture.
(Flag of Pakistan)
This has led to a phenomenon in which Bengalis' calls for their rights are often identified by West Pakistan as short-sighted, anti-Muslim, and even a voice with Indian intrigue.
Tensions between east and west intensified in 1952 when the government forcibly suppressed demonstrations in Dhaka over the use of the Bengali language.
The bloodshed gradually deprived Bangladeshis of their trust in the Pakistani government and their quest for a unified Pakistan, and a political call for local autonomy was gradually accepted.
In 1954, Bangladesh achieved universal adult suffrage for the first time, and this election was a profound demonstration of this trend toward independence: of the more than 300 seats in East Pakistan, the ruling Muslim League won fewer than 10 seats.
This antagonism intensified after the military coup d'état in 1958, when the junta imposed harsher repression of demands for autonomy in East Pakistan.
In March 1971, the junta announced a punitive offensive against East Pakistan to defend the country's unity.
(Bangladesh Delta)
The war provoked fierce resistance in the Bengal Delta, and although the Pakistani army had a large advantage in the early stages of the war, this advantage was quickly erased after India's entry into the war on December 3 – with the help of Indians, by December 16, Pakistan surrendered and Bangladesh was formed.
After the war, India quickly withdrew from Bangladesh and was the first to recognize Bangladesh, and the new Bangladesh completely inherited the borders of East Pakistan.
In 1972, the two countries signed a 25-year treaty of friendship and peace.
But after a brief honeymoon, real-world issues quickly cooled the relationship.
In particular, after Bangladesh declared independence in 1971, Bangladeshi people seeking opportunities for survival and development for economic reasons continued to pour into India, causing a lot of negative impact on India.
Illegal immigrants have created deep contradictions with indigenous peoples in terms of political elections, economic opportunities, ethnicity and religion. Bangladesh has even been accused of "revenge for grace"!
Second, will grace take revenge? Smuggled Bengalis
The longer the border crossing, the more difficult it is to manage the border and the less likely it is to detect some cross-border behavior. And India and Bangladesh also have the largest number of enclaves in the world. Among them, there are 111 Bangladeshi enclaves in India and 57 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh.
(Stowaway)
This complex geographical situation has allowed the people of India and Bangladesh to easily cross the border into each other's territory, and there has been a phenomenon of Bangladeshis traveling to India through the Indian enclave within the country.
In June 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina signed the landmark Land Boundary Agreement, which formally exchanged 162 enclaves, which also cut off the shortcut for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to travel to India through enclaves.
Many rivers flow through India, through Bangladesh, and finally into the Bay of Bengal.
The change in borders caused by the diversion of rivers is also the reason why India and Bangladesh have not reached an agreement on the disputed border.
In addition, the India-Bangladesh border spans a series of natural landscapes, such as forests, hills, plains, rivers, and human residential areas, and the complex and changeable terrain makes border security management extremely difficult, and even some border areas are rarely visited.
But in order to prevent the smuggling of Bangladeshi migrants, the Indian government has spared no expense in building border roads and fences.
Nevertheless, due to the particularly complex terrain of some areas along the border, it is impossible to build a fence.
The border between Assam and Bangladesh is 263 kilometers long, and the area north of the border line is mountainous and hilly, and the terrain south of the border is gradually flattening, and the gap in the terrain makes there are many steep valleys and rapid rivers near the border line, so the precipitous terrain will not be covered by the isolation net, and there will be omissions. Even if a quarantine net is built throughout the India-Bangladesh border, it will not stop the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh from entering India, cutting a hole in the quarantine net and then crossing the border.
As Assam Media put it: "Climbing over the quarantine net is as easy as cutting butter with a knife." ”
Even the border fences that have been built have been deliberately destroyed by stowaways, which is not enough to embarrass illegal immigrants who want to cross the border, so that the construction of fences alone will not solve the problem.
In addition, the Federal Government of India and the Government of Assam have also upgraded the armament of border patrol guards and increased border posts, but these measures have not been effective in actual implementation, and crossers can still easily cross the border.
So why are these Bengals crossing the Indian border? This is closely related to Bangladesh's weak economy.
First of all, Bangladesh is hot and humid, and natural disasters are frequent: the rainy season is abundant, prone to flooding disasters, and submerging the lowlands near the sea; The arrival of the dry season can seriously affect the harvest of crops.
(Bangladesh)
According to 2019 population data, Bangladesh has 163 million people, while the land area is only 147,000 square kilometers, and its population density is as high as 1,100 people per square kilometer.
In Bangladesh, about 86.6 percent are Muslims, and muslims are highly fertile, and the World Bank estimates that if the birth rate is not controlled, the population of Bangladesh will reach 180 million by 2025 and 208 million by 2050.
The population density is large, the land cultivated is limited, the contradiction between man and land is prominent, and the survival pressure of ordinary people is relatively large, and it is difficult to obtain land and other property.
Although India has the second largest population in the world, it is a vast territory, according to India's 2011 census data, it can be seen that India's population density is 382 people / square kilometer.
Compared with Bangladesh, India's environmental carrying capacity is much stronger.
Secondly, Bangladesh is one of the least developed countries in the world, with a weak economic base, the national economy mainly relies on agriculture, and the industrial base is weak.
The economic structure of agriculture has made it impossible for many landless, or even landless, peasants in Bangladesh to engage in agricultural production, while the remaining large number of rural laborers cannot find jobs in villages and cities.
(Fish market in Bangladesh)
The high population density means that the living materials obtained from the natural environment are also increasing, and in the long run, the ecological environment will only become more fragile.
In the face of natural disasters, farmers appear vulnerable, and if the land and housing properties that are most important to them are destroyed, they face a serious existential crisis.
The city's labor market is saturated, and it is difficult to find a way to earn money.
Under the severe pressure of domestic survival and development, in order to pursue better living conditions, when the expected income in the future is much greater than the current income, many Bangladeshis choose to immigrate, legal or illegal.
The land resources and job opportunities in neighboring countries make many Bangladeshi farmers who live at the bottom of society yearn for it.
These negative factors become the driving force for migrants to leave their places of origin, but the pull shown by India is fully reflected in the comparison of the many alternative places of migration for migrants.
(Bangladesh)
The occurrence of such a large number of "smuggling" incidents not only brings a heavy pressure on India's population, but also poses a great threat to India's local politics.
Third, there are many disasters: India and Bangladesh are opposed
In the past half century, most of the immigrants from Bangladesh have been illegal immigrants, and most of them are Muslim immigrants, and the political, economic, social and environmental negative impacts of the existence of these illegal immigrants on Assam have become more prominent, making the problem of illegal immigration used by political parties with ulterior motives.
In order to get votes, some political party leaders have made a big fuss about illegal immigrants, exaggerated the number and influence of immigrants, and incited public opinion, thus intensifying the rejection of illegal immigrants in Bangladesh by the indigenous population and winning the votes in the hands of the indigenous population.
There are also some political parties that value the huge ballot bank of illegal immigrants and want to win the votes in their hands, facilitate their access to votes, and actively solicit them.
Data show that from 1994 to 1997, voters in 57 of Assam's 126 constituencies increased by 20 percent, compared with only 7.4 percent across India over the same period.
(Bangladeshi refugees)
In just a few years, the number of voters has increased dramatically, which is not in line with the law of natural growth, and there is still one possibility that illegal immigrants have appeared on the electoral roster.
In January 2011, the Assam People's Party said it had 11.8 million voters in Assam in 1991, 14.4 million in 2001 and 17.9 million in 2010, with an increase of 6.1 million voters in 20 years.
There must be a reason behind the unusually rapid growth of the data, and the root cause is that there are a large number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants on the list.
Although indigenous people have been demanding that illegal immigrants be removed from the electoral roster and reported it to the Supreme Court of India in 2009, for various reasons, it has been dismissed.
If the government does not intervene to control the ferocious momentum of illegal immigration, the impact on the state's political, economic, cultural, security and other aspects will only increase.
However, as one of the states most affected by illegal immigration, different political organizations in Assam have adopted different attitudes to the issue of illegal immigration in order to achieve their political objectives, so it is difficult for political parties to reach political consensus on this issue.
(Bengalis working in India)
One commentator noted: "The practical difficulties in identifying 'foreigners', the continuing influx of immigrants, the duplicity shown by different political parties and the interference of the judiciary in revising the electoral roster hamper the implementation of the Assam Accords..."
"With the help of local politicians, traffickers and government workers, illegal immigrants are able to purchase ration cards and other documents for Indian citizens, thereby becoming part of the local electoral roster and then voting for supported politicians in elections, making the detection and deportation of illegal immigrants an insurmountable problem."
The failure of political parties in Assam to reach agreement on illegal immigration due to differences in interests is one of the reasons why the issue has been difficult to resolve for a long time.
In addition, corruption in local administrations is one of the biggest obstacles to preventing illegal immigrants from crossing the border.
Border enforcers often find that many so-called illegal Bangladeshi immigrants hold ration cards, driver's licenses and voter identity cards that are sufficient to prove that they are Indian citizens and cannot be deported.
Illegally issuing documents held by Indian citizens to stowaways is a good business, while local government officials have the right to forge identity documents on behalf of stowaways by taking bribes.
Nagaland Chief Minister Nefiu Babb quoted media reports that there was a violation in the issuance of birth certificates by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation at a modest price of 200 rupees, saying that such extortion endangered the entire northeast region.
(Hermit Bengalis)
Because illegal immigrants can use these documents to grant their "Indian citizenship" to travel back and forth between Indian states without restriction, it has also caused great trouble to other states.
To prevent and combat illegal immigration in Bangladesh, the Indian government upgraded the armament and equipment of border patrol soldiers and equipped them with night vision goggles.
But even so, it is still impossible to stop the smuggling of illegal immigrants, who will choose to cross the border in fog and late at night, when the border defense force will be much more limited.
Moreover, officials from India's Border Security Forces acknowledged that some soldiers, lured by money, facilitated border crossers in Bangladesh.
In fact, many tourism intermediaries in Bangladesh's border cities are actually "cross-border intermediaries", and Bengalis who want to cross the border have obtained Indian citizenship identity documents, ration cards and electoral identity cards in advance to prepare for smuggling, and then pay the intermediary to let the intermediary open the Indian Border Security Force and the Bangladesh Rifle Team personnel of the India-Bangladesh Border Patrol, because the agent has contact with them, and they know where the patrol soldiers and border guards are good to buy.
It is clear that the Indian Government cannot deal with the problem of illegal immigration in Bangladesh through ordinary administrative means, which involves and touches on the corruption problem that India has been unable to resolve.
(Conflict)
Government workers are not strong enough to enforce laws and government orders, and border guards are easily bribed by stowaways. Moreover, there are loopholes in the registration of citizenship, and illegal immigrants have not been stopped from registering as Indian citizens.
India's inaction and Bangladesh's connivance eventually led to a growing and almost irreparable problem of "illegal immigration.".
Postscript:
For the Governments of India and Assam, it is difficult to address the problem of illegal immigration.
The development of immigration and political, economic, ethnic, religious and other issues are intertwined, interpenetrating, intricate and complex, and involve the whole body.
The limited effectiveness of the various preventive measures taken by the Indian government on the border, coupled with the non-cooperation attitude of the Bangladeshi government, makes the problem of illegal immigration not solvable overnight.
At the beginning of 2020, the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic swept the world, and the Energy of the Indian government was diverted to deal with the epidemic at home, and more than 20 million Indians were infected with the new crown. The focus of local governments has also been constrained by the epidemic.
But at a time when covid-19 vaccines are starting to be widely vaccinated, the situation of Muslim immigrants who are excluded by the bill remains unclear – is it forced eviction? Or indefinite detention? It is impossible to judge whether to let them continue to live on Indian soil as immigrants, but no matter what form it takes, it will be difficult to implement, and the resistance will not be small, and the opposition of the Muslim community at home, even the condemnation of Bangladesh, the "home country" of Muslim immigrants, and the public opinion of international Muslim countries will accompany it.
India is truly "crying without tears"!
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