On Monday the Assam Government had published the much awaited final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). According to state NRC co-coordinator, “Two crore eighty nine lakhs, eighty three thousand six hundred and seventy seven people have been found eligible to be included in the NRC.” The first draft was released in December 2017, which included the names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore total applicants, recognizing them as legal citizens of India.
On Sunday, before the release of the final draft, 52 Bangladeshis were deported from Assam. They were deported to Bangladesh through the Mankachar sector on the Assam-Meghalaya-Bangladesh tri-junction.
All these 52 Bangladeshis were deported after they failed to prove their citizenship to Foreigners’ Tribunal, and were given the tag of ‘convicted foreigner’ as opposed to ‘declared foreigner’. Superintendent of Police of South Salmara-Mankachar district, Amrit Bhuyan, told The Hindu,“The 52 we handed over to Bangladesh had entered the country illegally and were arrested over a period of time from different parts of the State.”
It’s just the trailer of what’s going to come in the future. This is how other illegal immigrants will be dealt with by the Indian Government. The BJP is the first government which is actually tackling illegal immigration instead of making a vote bank out of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration has become a major headache for India and an imminent threat to its national security. They have been found indulged in illegal activities such as fraudulent procurement and fabrication of Indian identity cards — PAN, voter IDs etc — money laundering and other anti-national activities.
The difficulties faced by the people of the North-eastern states due to the influx of a large number of Bangladeshis include, the loss of employment and business opportunities. These accompanied with the destruction of the natural beauty, balance of the society and local culture due to the ever increasing burden of illegal Bangladeshis. But the Political party’s like the Congress and the TMC ignored all the concerns of the native population of northeastern states just for the sake of their vote-bank politics.
Politicians like Mamata Banerjee welcomes illegal immigrants with all enthusiasm just because of their vote bank politics. During the elections in 2014, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC was largely relying on the “Bangladeshi immigrant voters” who are situated in the 18 constituencies of the Santhal Parganas of Jharkhand. Mamata Banerjee even wanted to grant citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants living in India for more than five years.
However, the BJP does not indulge in dirty and selfish politics, the BJP government has initiated several steps to curb the menace of illegal immigrants. Now other states such as Jharkhand which is also facing a situation of illegal immigration is also planning to have a National Register for Citizens. The state has considered such a step after receiving complaints of massive influx of illegal Bangladeshis in many districts of Jharkhand. The illegal immigrants are entering in state and also buying the lands belonging to the tribal communities. The problem of illegal immigrants is rampant in districts like Pakur, Jhamtara, Sahebganj and Godda.
It’s good to see that now we finally have a government which is dedicated to protect the interests of the country. Otherwise, previous governments have heavily compromised with the nation’s interest just for the sake of their vote bank and appeasement politics.