Assam is politically a hyper sensitive zone and the nerve centre of the whole North-East of the Indian Union. It is one of the most diverse and colourful places in the world in terms of ethnic grouping as well as the richness of bio-diversity; natural resources and cultures. A narrow land corridor provides the only physical connection to India. Assam has contributed a lot in country'shistory and national reconstruction. But for the government of India, even today, it is a distant horizon.
The burning problem of Assam is the illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The problem started long ago i.e., prior to the Independence of India and continues till today due to the non-performance on the part of the government towards solving this problem. This illegal migrants problem was rightly observed by Shri Mullan, when he wrote in his Census Report of 1931: ?Probably the most important event during the last twenty five years, which seems likely to alter permanently the whole future of Assam and to destroy surely more than what Burmese invaders did in 1820, the whole structure of Assamese culture and civilisation, has been the invasion of a vast horde of land-hungry Bengali immigrants mostly Muslim from the districts of East Bengal and in particular from Mymensingh. I have already remarked that by 1921 the first army corps of the invaders had conquered Goalpara. The second army corps of the invaders which followed them in the years 1921 to 1931 has consolidated their position in that district and has also completed the conquest of Nowgong. The Barpeta sub-division of Kamrup has also fallen to their attack and Darraan is being invaded.?
How true was Shri Mullan with his observation. He must have gone through the history and geography of Assam minutely before giving the correct prediction (we can say now) about the demographic changes and cultural subversion in Assam. Vast areas of best cultivable land were settled on by the illegal immigrants, other areas were acquired by them through trespass and all other valuable vacant lands were being gradually swallowed up and converted into their possessions. Assamese culture is at stake and it will definitely change Assam demographically, if the influx from neighbouring Bangladesh is not stopped immediately. It is a gloomy picture but then it is a true picture.
Despite all these, the government passed the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals Act) and followed by Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2006. IMDT Act was scrapped by the Supreme Court on July 2005. It was a setback for the UPA government and they were put in the defensive. Even then the UPA government tried to outweigh the highest judiciary of India by passing the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2006; only to be scrapped again by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The amendment was never made for the benefit of the people of Assam. Hats off to the judiciary for stopping the evil elements from changing Assam demographically. No sensible person, who believes and practices the nationalistic religion would justify the application of the above mentioned Acts.
We are not concerned who rules the country as long as the administration is directed towards solving peoples problems and making the nation strong. In this context, we can not purchase the present government's policy of showing sympathy to a certain section of society with grant of special privileges. Religion should not be interpreted as a way of escape as done by the UPA government in Muslim economic appeasement policy.
One Prime Minister deceived the people of Assam during the Chinese aggression in 1962, while the other during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971. Hundreds and thousands of refugees from Bangladesh crossed the border to Assam and settled here, fuelling the already existed burning problem of illegal immigrants. One blunder leads to another during Congress rule. Now, again the Prime Minister under UPA government while addressing the National Development Council Meeting, publicly instructed the civil servants to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities particularly the Muslims are empowered to share equitably the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources.
As saying goes, ?Hope is the Dream of a Working Man?. Accordingly we hope for a change of government at the Centre, which will expedite in formulating a solution for the influx problem of Assam. ?England has only one Religion, it is England (Nationalistic Religion)?. It is our utmost duty to emphasise on the Nationalistic Religion, rather than following pseudo-secular politics in tackling and solving the illegal migrants problem of Assam.
(The writer can be contacted at Milan Nagar, Dibrugarh, Assam.)
