2. Immigration from Bangladesh
2.1.
The uses of migration
������ In the demographic competition, simple
procreation is not the only factor.�
There are cases where Muslims are in a minority and use migra�tion to
remedy their minority con�dition.� This
does not, of course, mean that all Muslims involved in such migration are
conscious soldiers in a demographic offensive ("�infiltrators"), but
an element of planning may nonetheless be involved, or may arise in certain
activist circles once the polit�ical potential of an ongoing migra�tion process
becomes ap�parent.�
������ Thus, about the situation in Euro�pe, Bat
Ye'or obser�ves: "The Is�lamicist move�ment does not conceal its intention
to islamize Europe at all.� Brochu�res
sold in Europ�ean Islamic cent�res explain goal and means, includ�ing conver�sion
work, marri�ages with native women, and espec�ially immigration.� Knowing that Islam always star�ted as a
minor�ity in the countries it con�quered, these ideologues con�sider the implan�tation
of Islam in Europe and the USA as a great chance for Is�lam."�
������ The Islamic calendar starts with a
momentous migra�tion, that of Mohammed and his followers from Mecca to
Medina.� The result of this immigration
from the Medinese viewpoint was that the city lost its auto�nomy to Mohamm�ed,
who became its dictator and expelled or killed sec�tions of its population.
������ A rec�ent��� case of the use of
demography� in the interes����������t of Islam was on the occasion of the 1994
provin�cial elections in the Malay�sian provi�nce of Sabah: "The number of
Muslim‑dominated constitue�ncies in Sabah has increased from 17 in 1990
to 24 in 1994.� The [Chri�stian�‑led]
Parti Bersatu Sabah has accused [the ruling party] of flooding the state with
Muslim immigrants from In�donesia and the Philippi�nes.� Some es�timates put the number of immigrants
as high as 800,000", with Sabah's original population numbering 1.5 mil�lion.�
������ The situation in In�dia follows the same
pat�tern: higher Muslim birth rate, and migra�tion creating Muslim majorities
in strategic plac�es.� This is most
visible in the problem of illegal im�migrat�ion from Bangladesh in the 1980s
and 90s, the most common occasion for using the term "demog�raphic aggres�sion".� In the case of im�migration, the
intentionality is un�de�niable but it is not neces�sarily or at least not
exclusively motiva�ted by Islamic concerns: Bangladesh is simply over�populated
and wants to get rid of its populat�ion surp�lus by all means available.� Non-Muslim gover�nments would probably
pursue a similar policy in similar circumstan�ces.
������ One factor which makes India the prime
target of Bangladesh's demo�graphic dumping policy, apart from its geographical
contiguity, is the tough policy of other countries vis-�-vis illegal or even
legal im�migran�ts: "At the end of last year, there were still more than
100,000 illegal immigrant workers from Bangladesh in Malaysia.� As of early February 1997 they are massively
expelled by the Malay Government. (...) Bangla�desh has some experience with
such disast�ers: last year already, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and
Qatar expelled some 50,000 illegal Bangladeshis. (...) Three years ago, the
Malaysian Government signed an agreement with the Govern�ment in Dhaka agreeing
to take in 50,000 new guest workers from Bangladesh.� But when more and more Bangladeshis entered the countries
secretly and started to work without work permit, Malay�sia canceled the agreement
unilaterally."� Against Bangladesh's aggressive
policy of encouraging its citizens to trespass against the laws of other
countries by settling there without permit, most other countries defend
themselves with a non-nonsense policy of cracking down on these infiltrators.
2.2.
Refugees and migrants
������ Immigration from Bangladesh is of two
types.� Firstly there are members of the
minority communities fleeing occasional waves of per�secution or the more
general sense of being second-class citiz�ens under the Islamic dispensation.�� Few Hindus would disput������������������e
their right to settle down in India.�
Secondly, there are Mus�lims seek�ing econom��ic oppor�tunities or sheer
living space, which dirt-poor and inten�sely overc�rowded Banglad�esh cannot
offer to the ever-larger num�bers of newcomers on the hous�ing and labour
market.
������ Hindu Revivalists are glad to quote
unsuspect secular sources to confirm their worst misgivings about Muslim
demographic aggres�sion from Bangladesh.�
A 1992 report prepared by B.B. Dutta for the North-Eastern Congr�ess
Coordination Com�mittee meeting in Guwahati looked into both types of im�migration
and notes:
������ "Between 1971 and 1981, Bangladesh
census records show a reduc�tion of 39 lakhs in the minority population.
������ "Between 1981-89, 36 lakh religious
minorities were missing from that coun�try.
������ "In 1972, there were 7.5 lakh Bihari
Muslims in the camps in Dacca.� As a
result of mediation by Saudi Arabia only 33,000 of them were accepted by Paki�stan.� At pres�e�nt, there are less
than two lakhs in the camps, where have the rest gone? (...)
������ "It would be interesting to note
that a group of intellectuals in Dacca is seeking to legitimise the migrat�ion
of Muslims into the adjoining areas of North East region by invoking the theory
of lebensraum or living space.� A
number of Dacca dailies carried articles written on these lines by university
professors.� They were not at all
apologetic about the in�filtrati�on.�
People are sought to be inspired by the hope that one day the
north-eastern region will be added to Bangladesh giving it a natural boundary
in place of present one which throttles Bangla�desh."
������ So, there is a large emigration of
non-Muslims, but there is also a large emi�gration of Muslims, as exemplif�ied
by the case of the Bihari Muslims in Bangladesh, of whom the great major�ity,
feeling unwelcome both in Bangl�adesh and in Pakistan, have simply returned to
Bihar and ad�join�ing areas, whence their parents had left for the promi�sed
land of (East) Pakistan in 1947.� Moreo�ver,
the inten�tiona�lity of the population shift from Bangladesh to India is
expressed quite candidly by opinion leaders in Banglad�esh.
������ The BJP argues that refugees from
persecution and illegal economic migrants merit a different treat�ment, as is
assumed in the arrangements for refugee relief of most countries.� But sec�ularists see it differently, for
"unlike the BJP, the Congre�ss (I) views both Hindus and Muslim from
Bangladesh as in�filtrat�ors".��� Terminology is a part of the
problem here, with secularists systematically describing Hindu refugees as
"migrants" if not "infiltrators", and Muslim illegal
immigrants as "refugees".
2.3. An
estimate of the numbers
������ Arun Shourie has brought the findings of
the police and other Government agencies to the notice of the publ�ic.� According to an Inter�nal Note prepared by
the Home Minist�ry, "large-scale infiltration has changed the demographic
landscape of the bor�ders", and it also af�fects Delhi, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, etc.�
������ By 1987, the number of illegal immigrants
in West Ben�gal alone was ca. 4.4 million, and 2 to 3 million in Assam, so that
"large stretches of the border in these states are becoming predominantly
inhabited by Banglade�shi Muslims.� The
simme�ring communal tension in some of the border areas is one of the manife�stations
of the effects of large-scale illegal migration of Bangl�adeshi nationals who
have slowly displaced or dispossessed the local population, particularly those
belonging to the Hindu com�munity".� Moreov�er: "In the
metropolitan cities of Delhi and Bombay not less than 4 to 5 lakh Bangladeshi
Muslims have been residi�ng".
������ The Hindu population in East Bengal had
declined from 33% in 1901 to 28% in 1941.�
It fell to 22% by 1951 due to the Partition and the post-Partition
exodus, and to 18.5% in 1961.� By 1971,
it had fallen to 13.5%, partly due to the 1971 massacre by the Pakistani Army,
partly due to intermittent waves of emigrati�on.� The 1981 figure was 12.1%.�
In 1989 and 1990, due to "large-scale destru�ction, desecration and
damage inflic�ted on Hindu temples and religious institutions", "clandestine migrat�ion��� by the Hindus to India went up".
� ���� On
top of the con�tinu�ous trickle of Hin�du‑Buddh�ist refugees fleeing
discrimi�nat�ion and harassment, the big major�ity of clandestine immigrants
consisted of Muslims seeking "living space".� It is very hard to count them, but the
difference between the actual Bangladesh populat�ion in 1991 and predictions
for 1991 based on the birth rate and other data shows that millions of people
have disappeared from the radar screen of Bangladeshi census workers: "The
net shortfall, according to Bangla�desh gover�nment projec�tion was between
7.24 and 9.24 million, and according to UNDP estimates it was between 12.24 and
14.24 million."� And since 1991, mil�li�ons more
have been added to that number.
2.4.
Indian worries
������ All the BJP's "genuine
secularists" are, in their heart of hearts, wor�ried about the demographic
increase of the minorities, but they don't want to admit it in so many
words.� Thus, in its 1996 Elec�tion
Manifes�to, the BJP warns that beca�use of Bangla�deshi in�filtration,
"various demogra�phic entities are bound to come in conflict" due to
"an alar�ming growth of a section of the populati�on"; already,
"a section of the popu�lation has grown by almost 100 per cent" in
certain northeastern are�as.��� Not wan�ting to sound
anti-Mus�lim, the BJP avoids being expli�cit about the "co�mmun�al"
angle.�
������ Even to the extent that the BJP does
identify the problem as "i�llegal Banglad�eshi Muslims", it
dooms itself to an unimaginative (and by now probably unrealis�tic) solution,
viz. to physically push these people back across the border, and then build a
her�metic fence around Banglad�esh.�
However, the BJP state gov�ern�ment in Delhi, voted to power in 1993 on
a plat�form promine�ntly includ�ing a crack�down on Ban�glade�shi "in�filtr�ators",
has total�ly gone back on this prom�ise.�
Few people seem to realize that the only democratic way to
conduct this policy of allowing illegal immigration is to have Parliament pass
a law declaring: "He�ncefo�rth, India gives up the right to control its
borders and the access to its territory", a right which is one of the
defining elements of sover�eignty.�
Allowing illegal immigration to continue is an act of contempt for
India's democratic laws and institutions.
������ Even a secularist paper has noticed the
seriousness of the prob�lem: "The police say that Bangladeshis are behind
most of the robberies, stabbings and other crimes being com�mitted in the
capital.� Their area of operation
includes posh localities in South Delhi where most of them work as domestic
help.(...) Scarce job opportunities are thus being hijac�ked by these
foreigners.� Pakistan claims to be a
great friend of Bangla�desh, but it is unwilling to allow even one Bangladeshi
to stay on.� In fact, Pakistan gunned
down hundreds of Bangladeshis who were trying to sneak into its territory.� If this is how Pakistan is dealing with the
situation, there is no need why we should be so generous.� As a first step, India's borders with
Bangladesh should be effec�tively sealed.�
As for those Bangladeshis who are already in the country, they should be
identified and deported.� Otherwise, the
whole country will be paying a very heavy price."
������ As against the reassuring view that
Muslims can only outnumber Hindus in India in a matter of centuries, the
evolution in the North-East suggests that the problem of a Muslim majority will
take the form of the successive Unterwanderung ("to overwhelm by
walking in") of designated parts of India within decades.� The demog�raphic evolu�tion is bound to
create succes�sive Kash�mir-type situatio�ns, with local Muslim majorities in a
(decreasingly) Hin�du-majority republic.