Bangladesh authorities are finding it hard to explain the desperate outward migration of youths despite the political stability and economic improvements they enjoy at home. Recent reports published by European immigration bodies indicate that around 19,000 illegal Bangladeshi migrants, stranded mostly in Greece, along the Polish border, or Italy, have sought political asylum in the West so far this year. Last year, their number was a little over 11,500 and in 2020, it was around 13,000.

The rising figures naturally embarrass authorities in Dhaka as they understand the damage such a trend does to the country’s overall image. It also rankles them that while mostly the migrant stream is headed West, there have been rising cases of successful Bangladeshi migrants opting for citizenship in Singapore or Malaysia.

Lately, Bangladesh has been embroiled in a running dispute with the United States/European Union countries over what they perceive as continuing human rights abuses targeting political dissenters by the Dhaka-based administration. There are also complaints against the ruling Awami League (AL) that elections held during its tenure have not been fairly conducted.

Both allegations are vigorously disputed by AL leaders and the administration. However, the significant traffic of asylum seekers, according to observers, could be the symptom of a deeper malaise: a sizable section of Bangladeshi youths have no faith in their country’s future, never mind its impressive economic progress and recent achievements as a developing South Asian country.

The Bangladeshi media and government are well aware that such a phenomenon sends a wrong message among the more advanced countries and generates a negative image about Bangladeshis in general. “Our fellow citizens approaching richer foreign governments for security and shelter strongly undermine our concrete achievements and the positive values we have followed over the years” — is a common refrain in the social media.

Forces regarded as inimical to Bangladesh, including pro-Pakistan elements and Islamic fundamentalists, it has been emphasized, have not caused more harm to the aura of an emergent Bangladesh than a section of homegrown migrants. Recently published articles in the Bangladeshi media provide evidence of this, with critics of government policies posing awkward questions to officials.

There are counter voices as well. The phenomenon is not Bangladesh-specific. Dhaka-based analysts, not necessarily apologists for the ruling Awami League, point to a similar outward migration of citizens from India in recent years. (A recent ministerial answer in the Lok Sabha states that in 2020, 85,000 Indians gave up their citizenship for a variety of reasons and the number rose to 1,60,000 in 2021. In 2019, the figure was 1,44,017. Most applied for fresh citizenship in the US, Canada or Australia).

Their reasoning: the outward migration trend is restricted to a very small fringe within the population and the primary reason for leaving home for good is economic.

To no one’s surprise, Dhaka-based officials insist that most Bangladeshis asking for political asylum abroad resort to outright lying to secure a foothold abroad, no matter how tenuous. As records of conversations between EU authorities and these migrants show, most people allege that it is too dangerous for them to live peacefully because of political reasons.

Regardless of the patent falsehood overlaying many, if not most, of these claims, the built-in Western prejudice about Bangladesh as a country with a poor human rights record, is further reinforced. “Since the lies come from native Bangladeshis, unfortunately, the damage caused is almost permanent,’’ says a Kolkata-based Bangladeshi research student. Despite its overall progress, Bangladesh still has long way to go in terms of economic development. But in law and order and general governance matters, it cannot be compared to Syria, Pakistan or Afghanistan, countries from which most asylum seekers come.

According to open source information, EU authorities do not always accept as gospel truth the stories related by desperate South Asian migrants looking for la dolce vita in the West. For asylum seekers, the chances for entry improve if one plays the ‘political victim’ card. Many applicants come from countries racked by prolonged violence and lawlessness, such as Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Neither Bangladesh nor India was/has been ever listed along with these countries.

In Dhaka, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan recently confirmed that most Bangladeshi migrants pleading for asylum were not speaking the truth, because mostly normal law and order prevailed in the country. However, EU authorities were often inclined to be more receptive to narratives of organised political persecution of common people in different parts of Asia. A silent ‘sympathy’ factor could be at work here.

On the positive side, lying does not prevail permanently. EU and Bangladesh governments are in regular touch about the presence of illegal Bangladeshi migrants. Action follows on dubious cases. Many people have been sent back. About five/six years ago, EU authorities had identified over 80,000 illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the continent arranging for their return home.

In part, Bangladesh could well be a prisoner of its past history, or the segment of its history that non-Bangladeshis are familiar with. Being the most densely populated country which sees half of its territory go under water owing to monsoon floods and being vulnerable to periodic cyclones, Bangladesh was written off as a hopeless case by seasoned observers and economic experts at its birth in 1971, led by the American politician and foreign policy shaper-in-chief, Henry Kissinger.

The present situation is somewhat complex. Younger Bangladeshis are also proud of their country’s recent economic progress and its achievements in asset building, overcoming difficult odds. While only 3% of the people were deemed above the dreaded poverty line in the country at its birth in 1971, Bangladesh today has only around 22% of its people who are by definition poor. “But somehow, the image of Bangladesh as an emergent fast-growing nation has not quite spread worldwide”, explains a Kolkata-based analyst.

Because of this, stories about continuing Bangladeshi political persecution, acute discrimination on religious ground, highhandedness of the administration, religious fundamentalism, still find a ready resonance among the powerful Western liberal lobby.

In the meantime, Bangladesh has emerged as a leading country in South Asia, eclipsing India in terms of annual GDP earnings, as Sri Lanka lost its lead over its neighbours during the past decade. More encouragingly, Bangladesh is poised to retain its lead over its bigger and stronger neighbour for some time.

An additional, if less worrisome, factor is that only a fringe element among youths is determined to quit the country for foreign shores, driven by economic ambitions, thanks to a get-rich-quick-by-all-means mentality. “This is the same ‘craze-for-foreign’ obsession that the eminent writer V S Naipaul derided among aspiring Indians back in the seventies and eighties, but the trend was applicable to the subcontinent as a whole,” says travel agent Sajal Nag.

Clearly old habits, even mental ones, die hard. (IPA Service)