It is no different this time, as the state assembly elections are going to be held soon. However, the tension between communities over the issue is less than before. This is largely because the Congress happens to be ruling Assam.

Meanwhile agent provocateurs remain active. Some time ago, an unidentified group had circulated leaflets in some districts, appealing to the people not to employ or patronise suspected to be illegally settled Bangladeshis. While some Muslims fled from certain pockets, fearing physical attacks and harassment, the leaflet made little impact. In any case, most illegal settlers work as hired labour on Assam’s farms, pull rickshaws or vans, work as market porters, run petty shops or work on road building projects. Since they do not form any part of organised labour, it is not easy to crack down against them. The hate campaign died in a whimper.

Also, the fact that the organisation or people responsible for printing and circulating the “hate” missive preferred anonymity is significant. Most people suspected it to be the work of the All Assam Students” Union (AASU), which calls for a movement against the illegal settlers almost rabidly. It is not as though such calls do not enjoy a tacit support from a section of Hindus in Assam.

But the violent anti-foreigner agitation in Assam launched by the AASU during the eighties did not achieve much in concrete terms. It ended up embittering the religious and ethnic divide within a highly diversified state. The AASU-sponsored violence spiralled out of control, deeply hurting the general image of a peaceful state.

Worse, when the Asam Gana Parishad (largely composed of former AASU elements) party was formed as a counter weight to the Congress, representing native Assamiya aspirations, it won power, but failed miserably to deport illegal Bangladeshi settlers.

This time, too some parties and groups have called for the identification of “foreigners”, the deletion of their names from the electoral rolls and eventual deportation. The Central and State Election Commission too have been more active.

However, observers agree that of late the movement of people from Bangladesh to Assam has decreased. As for detecting and uprooting old settlers, the process remains complicated.

With at least 50 out 126 assembly seats decided by the Muslim votes — the percentage of Muslims in Assam’s population is second only to that in Kashmir, at nearly 30% — few parties are willing to offend the sentiments of such a large section of the electorate, AASU or no AASU.

The BJP, which has a small base in Assam, supports the proposed deportation of Bangladeshi Muslims, but not of the Hindus. The AGP does not make such distinctions, but does not adopt a strident tone over the issue either..

Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is not perturbed over the opposition campaign against illegal immigration. “Why is it that the NDA government never carried out the fencing of the Assam-Bangladesh international border, if it was really serious in curbing infiltration?”, he said some time ago. The Congress enjoys a stable Muslim support base, although of late the new AUDF, a largely Muslim party has cut into its vote bank. However, the AUDF has indicated its intent to enter into an alliance with the Congress.

Legally the expulsion of “foreigners” under the erstwhile IMDT act was difficult, as the onus was on the complainant to prove the fact of illegal settlement. Some 310,000 cases had been filed against suspected Bangladeshis, of whom only 11,000 were taken to court, and about 1400 people deported following decades of effort.

On the other hand, in West Bengal where illegal migrants were pulled up under the Foreigners” act provisions, nearly 500,000 people could be deported much quicker.
Now the Supreme court has scrapped the IMDT and brought Assam under the purview of the Foreigners” act, where the onus to prove his citizenship falls on the accused person or persons.

Minority leader Hafiz Rashid Choudhury remains unimpressed with what Muslims believe to be a politically motivated campaign against them. The issue is something that comes up only during elections, he once remarked.

He might have added, even during elections, most parties took care not to go overboard in their anti-migrant campaign in view of the large Muslim vote bank.
(IPA Service)