What is the significance of this issue and what is the truth of the government claims? Is this discussion also just a political statement?
As soon as we hear the word Bidesiya, the tune of a poignant song by Bhojpuri folk poet and playwright Bhikhari Thakur starts being heard, which gives voice to eternal pain. Thakur wrote his famous play Bidesiya in 1912. It was published in book form in 1917. This was the period when the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were approaching, when a large number of men from Bhojpuri speaking areas were migrating to Calcutta or elsewhere for employment. Bhikhari Thakur’s songs like ‘Gavna Karake Saiyan’ (the newlywed’s husband leaves her soon after Gauna and goes abroad) and ‘Piya Mora Gaile Pardes’ express this common pain of separation. The basic tone of the songs is the pain of moving away from one’s home and land due to economic compulsions and the loved ones left behind.
See the irony, today the same word Bidesiya has transformed into ‘foreign infiltrator’. This issue has been raised in politics for the last several years. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of ‘demographic change’. After that, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated that ‘identification, removal and deportation’ of infiltrators is the priority of his government. This issue is again on the political stage due to the Election Commission’s SIR campaign during or before Bihar elections. The question is, is this discussion also a saga of separation like the old ‘Bidesiya’, a political promise which is not fulfilled on the ground? What is the significance of this issue and what is the truth of the government claims? If infiltration is a threat to the country, then why are they not being expelled?
Failure of ‘deportation’
Despite Shah’s harsh declarations, if we look at the official figures of deportation, it has become just an aggressive political statement.
Deportation data (Bangladeshi only)
According to data given in Parliament by the Home Ministry, a total of 14,346 foreign nationals have been deported from India during 2014-2022. This number includes visa violators, over-stayers and citizens of all countries. The specific data on illegal infiltrators is much lower.
According to these figures, in terms of deportations, the NDA government at the Center is far behind compared to the performance of the previous government, as according to official sources more than 80,000 deportations took place during 2005-2013. This makes it clear that the policy of ‘deportation’ is a political weapon and not an effective action implemented at the ground level.
This shows that the massive government process merely became a means of creating political division, without achieving its main objective (deportation). Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s rejection of the NRC (see box) also shows that for the party the issue is just a political weapon and not a definitive document.
Big challenge for West Bengal
The total length of the India-Bangladesh border is 4,096.7 kilometers. West Bengal shares the largest and most sensitive part of this border (2,216.7 km), while Assam shares about 263 km. It is significant that the Home Ministry has not been able to complete the fencing work on the West Bengal border. Despite the lack of fencing, Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal has outperformed BJP-ruled states in pushing infiltration back to the border (a kind of ‘deletion’).
In fact, the figure of ‘detection’ and ‘deletion’ (pushback) at the West Bengal border is almost four times more than the combined performance of BJP-ruled Assam and Tripura. This government data is a clear proof that in contrast to the aggressive rhetoric of the central government, the border area of the opposition Mamata government has achieved better operational success in ground action. That means BJP just kept it an issue and did not do any work at the grassroots level.
The failure of BJP’s claims on the issue of infiltration is not limited to the deportation figures alone, but is also visible in the inaction of its allies.
The announcements of BJP leaders on ‘Detect, Delete and Deport’ sound hollow when the situation of action in the states ruled by their own and allies’ parties is so dismal. For example, the achievement of Nitish Kumar government on this issue in Bihar is almost zero. Districts like Kishanganj of Bihar are adjacent to West Bengal. No important action was taken there to identify the infiltrators. NDA has been in power for many years but the government has remained silent on infiltration.
In fact, 75 years ago the song ‘Bidesiya’ showed the pain of migration of the husbands, today the political discourse of ‘foreign intruder’ is capitalizing on the same fear on religious grounds. It seems that instead of solving the problem of infiltration, the NDA governments have turned it into a political slogan.,
If the number of infiltrators is really in the millions, as is politically claimed, then the deportation figure must also be in the millions. But government figures tell a different story. In fact, this is a strategy which, by raising the issue of demographic change, promotes a feeling of fear among a particular community, while the achievement of the party making noise in ground action, i.e. the government, is zero. This issue is always taken out of the bag at the time of elections, so that votes can be gathered from it. After this the government itself does not know what to do with it. On the contrary, opposition parties have performed better. He has worked more on infiltration. It is clear that this mantra is not an effective security policy, but a powerful electoral narrative, which is revived in every election to reflect the political ironies of India.
There is a world of difference between claims and intentions.
NRC: Identification effort stuck in judicial dilemma. Difference seen between Assam NRC figures and reality
Identification: 19.06 lakh people left out of the final draft.
Removal status: zero. Despite the names being out, not a single person has been officially deported so far due to legal complications and Bangladesh not accepting the citizens.
Government disapproval: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma himself described the NRC as ‘flawed’ and demanded its rejection.
(The author is a senior journalist. Views are personal)
