BETWEEN THE LINES
A Difficult State to Govern
Nothing changes in Guwahati. Neither the lazy scene nor the over pushed Assamese. Whenever I return to the city - I have been doing so for the last 40 years - I find the reecho of the same problems and same frustrations. The Assamese are vainly trying to retain their entity, which is eroding every day because of uninterrupted flow of 'foreigners'.
But the issue of 'foreigners' is only a symptom, not the disease. The disease is their realisation that they are fighting a losing battle and that the nation is not even recognising it. They have seen Tripura and Sikkim going into the hands of people coming from across the border, pushing the indigenous population to the background. They fear lest they should meet the same fate. Their number is already down to 38 per cent in what is the Assamese-speaking State.
"Politicians think of elections but my eyes are fixed on the next generation," says Assam Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha. His argument is that Congress, for its electoral advantage, had purposely encouraged migrants from East Pakistan so as to build a vote bank. "I have told the President and central leaders that large scale migration from across the border has altered the demographic complexion of the state and poses greater threat to the identity of the Assamese people and to our national security.
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But he does not favour deportation. He wants the foreigners to be declared 'stateless citizens'. He is, however, confident that the border with Bangladesh would be fenced before long like the one with Pakistan. "It is no use doing it for Assam alone. West Bengal needs to be fenced too," he says. For 13 years, fencing is only half way through in Assam and the work in West Bengal has not yet been scheduled. The governor concedes that officials accept bribe to help migration. In fact, he has said so to the President in a special report on infiltration in Assam.
While in Calcutta, I found the West Bengal government waking up to the problem. It would dismiss it in the past, dubbing such a thinking communal. But now the attitude has changed. "We have to stop the migration," said a minister. The CPI (M) still rationalises the problem, arguing that the Bengalis from across the border are integrating well culturally with the Bengalis in West Bengal.
The reaction in Assam is, however, entirely opposite. One, the Assamese are purists when it comes to their culture. Two, the Bengalis have dominated them for so long - the British brought the Bengalis for help in administration and construction of railways - that the Assamese are generally hostile to the Bengalis. They see little difference between the Bengalis in India and those from Bangladesh. "There is nothing to choose between the two," says an Assamese professor.
"Our main problem is what to do with the lakhs of illegal migrations who are already within our state (roughly 45 lakh)," says Sonowal, the outgoing president of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU). The AASU's role is, indeed, important because it was the first to articulate the problem. It organised in the seventies a statewide agitation on the ousting of 'foreigners'. So effective was its call that hundreds of people would court arrest in response. I witnessed the defiance of curfew by thousands of people in the streets. The same people, at the instance of AASU, observed black outs when even a single candle would not burn throughout the night.
The AASU won the battle when then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed an accord with them. Illegal migrants were defined as those who infiltrated after December 24, 1971. It is a pity that the AASU leaders, who came to power after the accord, did nothing to implement it. Prafulla Kumar Mohanta was Chief Minister at that time also. The political party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which the supporters of the movement constituted to oust 'foreigners', got lost in intrigues and corruption. People in Assam have given them another chance. Again they seem to be failing. But this time, Mohanta has a valid explanation. He is in power because of the crucial support that the MLAs elected by 'foreigners' have extended.
"I cannot get through the cabinet any measure, which is aimed at disturbing the migrants," Mohanta admitted to me some time ago. Had his party stood by him, he would have probably tried to implement the accord. At present, his whole time - and energy - is consumed in mollifying the dissidents. And he still has to finalise a strategy to deal with the foreigners' problem.
Both he and the AASU can, however, take credit for not allowing the problem becoming communal, something that the BJP has been trying to do. The governor too says: "No doubt, Hindus required special consideration at the time of partition and had to be treated as refugees, but this cannot be allowed to continue for ever. Post-1971 Hindu illegal migrants cannot justifiably claim refugee status." The BJP's stand is that the Hindus from Bangladesh are refugees.
Indeed, people of Assam have resisted the various attempts to divide them as Hindus and Muslims. With all its poisonous propaganda, the communalists are not making any headway. Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist organisations have not given up their efforts to contaminate the atmosphere but they are not succeeding. I have talked to many Assamese Muslims and found them equally determined to oust migrants from across the border. One Muslim leader said: "No patriotic Indian can allow the problems to continue.
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Whenever I have broached the subject in Dhaka, there is no effort to push the problem beneath the carpet. People discuss it with all seriousness. But their plea is that the Bangladeshis go in search of livelihood and that they do not want to settle in Assam or elsewhere in India. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that there are no illegal Bangladeshis in India. The figures of one crore, mentioned by former Home Minister Inderjit Gupta, is very much resented and challenged.
There is, however, some validity in the argument that the Bangladeshis provide cheap labour. The Assamese themselves admit it, adding that they are "hardworking chaps." It is an open secret that many Assamese hid their teenage domestic servants at the time of detection. Work permits, as Home Minister L K Advani has promised, may lessen the embarrassment.
Government of India's home secretary, who recently visited Dhaka, to discuss the problem is happy over the outcome. Both countries will help each other stop cross-border migration. Perhaps the joint working group, constituted a few years ago, should begin working in finding a solution to illegal migrants.
Still what about those who are on the voters' list illegally? The governor says that ousting 'foreigners' is not feasible. Still some method has to be found whereby they do not influence the politics of Assam. To begin with, their names should be struck off the electoral rolls. Their status can be determined later.
If the problem is allowed to fester, Assam may be engulfed by violence. The insurgency by ULFA (United Liberation Force of Assam) is declining in its support. People are sick of killings. And in no way they are willing to endorse the ULFA demand for secession. But if the centre does not find a way, whereby the Assamese can preserve their identity - and rule - in the midst of 'foreigners', it can be a difficult state to govern.
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