India under a perilous siege?

I
By J.G. Arora

Illegal infiltration of crores of Bangladeshis into India; almost daily killings of innocents by the terrorists in Kashmir; Kashmiri Hindus? eviction from Kashmir to become refugees in their own country; and division of the nation into majority and minority are just some of the manifestations of the siege in which India finds itself.

And India has responded to the siege by a policy of denial, deception and inaction. But to pretend that the problem does not exist is self-deception, and does not solve the problem. It aggravates the problem.

Bangladeshi Aggression

Perilous Bangladeshi demographic aggression is one of the main reasons for India'ssiege. During the last few years, crores of Bangladeshis have illegally infiltrated into India which has changed the demographic map of many states, particularly the north-eastern states like West Bengal and Assam where more districts have become Muslim-majority districts because of Bangladeshi infiltration. Bangladeshi infiltration in sensitive areas is being fully supported by Pakistan'sintelligence agency ISI with its long-term design to destroy India. Though Shri T.V. Rajeshwar, former Intelligence Bureau Chief (and at present the Governor of Uttar Pradesh) in 1996 had cautioned against the emergence of another ?Islamic State? in the eastern part of India because of Bangladeshi infiltration, but successive governments did nothing to deport the infiltrators and to end the continuing infiltration.

It is tragic that everyone is passively watching the siege of the nation.

Solution

Since the Congress Party has been in power for most of the period since Independence, many of the problems facing the nation at present are the result of the policies pursued by the Congress party. Therefore, the Congress party cannot free the country from the bind in which India finds itself. Other political parties either follow the Congress line, or do not have an all-India presence.

In this dismal scenario, when the common man has become cynical and distrustful of all political parties which have lost their credibility, the only solution to give to the nation a clean and efficient government, and to liberate it from its painful siege lies in the formation of a new strong political party comprising of selfless and nationalist patriots with a sincere, upright, nationalistic and people-friendly agenda.

(Author recently retired as the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. His e-mail address is: jgarora@vsnl.net)