The BJP has said that it could not have been “better time” to implement the recent order of the Center for giving residential status to non-Muslims who brought illegal travel documents from neighboring countries. At the same time, the opposition believes that this is the strategy of the BJP to prevent its situation from deteriorating in the electoral states of the eastern region.
This order in political circles has been interpreted by “the first steps towards giving citizenship to the harassed Hindus from Bangladesh” from “the remedies of civil war between communities”.
As per the respective order, on 31 December, 2024 or before valid travel documents, people belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, seeking refuge in India on the basis of religious harassment, will not be prosecuted under immigration and foreign acts, 2025 on people belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis and Christian communities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Recently, which came into force from September 1, this law provides for the formation of the Immigration Bureau and at the same time the police officers of the head constable or above have been empowered to arrest any person without a warrant on suspicion of violating mandatory immigration requirements for foreigners in India.
The last date for entry into India for non-Muslim migrants in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was fixed on 31 December 2014, but the latest order extended the date of entry for such migrants for 10 years so that they could not be prosecuted.
Mohit Roy, former convenor of the state BJP refugee cell, said, “Despite the 2014 deadline of CAA, refugees from Bangladesh are migrating to West Bengal, because there has been a rapid change in the political scenario of that country, which has been in the dominance of Islamic fundamentalists since last one year.”
He said, “There is an immediate need to create a legal structure under which these people can live here and they are not called illegal migrants. This will protect them from problems like police harassment and bank account being ‘freeze’.
Roy said that the party was demanding to extend the deadline for admission in view of rapidly changing Bangladesh, where atrocities on minorities have increased manifold in recent times.
He said, “Now since these refugees have been freed from the stigma like being illegal and they are free from fear of harassment, I believe it is only a matter of time when they will be allowed to apply for citizenship under CAA.”
At the same time, another leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on the condition of anonymity that the party will get political benefits not only in Assam but also in Bengal in the upcoming assembly elections.
He said, “There could not have been a better time for this step.”
However, Prasanjit Bose, an economist and political analyst with an inclination towards the Left, looked disagree with this.
He argued that the new law and its exemption segment would officially get the power to target the migrant Bangla -speaking Muslims belonging to West Bengal with “more vengeance than now”.
Bose said, “Since Muslims are not coming from Bangladesh due to religious harassment, Muslim migrants belonging to Bengal will now officially be on the target of Amit Shah’s police.” They will be chased out as Bangladeshi. ”
He warned, “There are currently about three crore Muslims in Bengal and about 1.5 crore Hindus in Bangladesh, and such migration can enforce civil war.”
Bose alleged that the step was directly contrary to the political discourse of the BJP, which he had prepared for the border states like Bengal.
He asked, “Prime Minister Modi talks about changing demographics in border districts, and it clearly means to say that the number of illegal Muslim intruders in these areas has increased rapidly. What is the basis of this claim without census data? Secondly, if they are so concerned about being filled with intruders of India, then why are they encouraging Hindus from Bangladesh to flee? ”
Bose said that through these new laws, the BJP is trying to finalize the “big plan to take the argument of partition to its logical conclusion”.
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Mohammad Salim described the move as “the steps taken without thinking” of the BJP and said that it has arisen from the ‘Namshudra’ Hindus (traditional Hindu community of Bengal) of Bengal.
At the same time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has targeted the BJP, calling the move “spectacle” and “electoral gimmick”.
