In a first step to stop the demographic takeover of the Jammu region, the Modi government has decided to send 155 Rohingyas to a “holding centre” (read detention centre) under section 3(2)e of the Foreigners Act.
Inspector general of police (Jammu zone) Mukesh Singh said, “155 illegal immigrant Rohingyas staying in J&K were today sent to the holding centre established vide home department notification dated March 5, 2021,” adding, “This was done under section 3(2)e of the Foreigners Act. Due process of law was followed in this exercise. These immigrants were not holding valid travel documents required in terms of section (3) of the Passports Act.”
The demographic takeover of Jammu has been the aim of the successive Jammu and Kashmir governments (which is usually headed by a Muslim from the Kashmir region) for a long time and they tried to do it through various legislative and executive decisions. Be it the Roshni act or the liberal settlement of Rohingyas in the Jammu region, these decisions had only aim – to make the region a Muslim majority area just like Kashmir.
Aimed at ‘conferring 20.55 kanals of state land to the occupants,’ the Roshni Act was implemented in 2001 by Ghulam Nabi Azad, the then CM of the state. The Act, as per the then government’s claims, was aimed at generating resources for power projects and confer proprietary rights to occupants of state land subject to payment of land cost fixed by the government. However, as later investigated and accused by lawyer Ankur Dharma, advocate and chairman of Ikjutt Jammu, the Roshni Act was actually an attempt to change the demographics of the entire region of Jammu.
At the forefront, it is also relevant to mention here that between the 2001 and 2011 Census, there has been a sharp alteration in the demographics of the Jammu region- while the Muslim population has risen from around 30 per cent to around 33 per cent and the Hindu population has allegedly declined proportionately from around 65 to 62 per cent.
According to Zee News, 25,000 people were settled in Jammu under the provisions of this legislation, while only 5,000 were settled in the Kashmir region of the erstwhile state. Out of the 25,000 illegal occupants who benefitted from the Roshni Act in the Jammu region, about 90 per cent were Muslims. This was therefore clearly a state-sponsored attempt at Islamising and radicalising the Jammu region of the Union Territory.
Apart from the Roshni act, settling the Rohingyas seems to be the second big project through which demographic takeover of the area is being made possible. Jammu and Kashmir is an example of how the unchecked and unmonitored influx of illegal Rohingyas had created a change in the demography of the region and had led to tense situations in the Jammu region.
The Rohingyas were also welcomed by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to settle in the state so as to increase her voter base and for her long-term goal of minority appeasement. Now, with the Modi government getting stricter, their hands are tied and so the Rohingyas are looking to settle in Communist-ruled Kerala, where, without a doubt, they will be used as vote banks in the upcoming days.
Rohingyas are a burden in India and the country is already facing a crunch of resources to meet the demands of its one billion-plus population. Their radicalisation will pose further threats to the indigenous population, whichever states they are made to settle in – whether it is Kerala or the Union Territory of Jammu. This is why Rohingyas must be deported to Myanmar as quickly as possible. Deporting the Rohingyas back is the only way to stop the demographic takeover of Jammu and the Modi government has taken a step in the right direction with the decision to send 155 Rohingyas to holding centres.
