Illegal bangladeshi immigrants in assam

During the 20th century Assam has experienced the highest population growth rates among the Indian states and the difference in the growth rate can be well explained by large scale migration of people from other parts of the subcontinent. Assam shares an international border with Bangladesh and has been inundated with the hitch of illegal immigration by the people from Bangladesh since last 4 decades. In the year 2005, the Governor of Assam, in a secret message to the Central Government stated that every day, approximately 6000 people from Bangladesh enter Assam and of the 10 million illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to India, 5 million alone resides in Assam.

At the time of partition of India and Pakistan, the people of the Muslim community who spoke Bengali were sent to East Pakistan, the present day Bangladesh and the Urdu-speaking people to West Pakistan. However, in 1971, a revolt took place between East Pakistan and West Pakistan owing to the linguistic disparity and Bangladesh was formed, separating it from Pakistan. During the riot, many Bangladeshis ran away to seek shelter in India and chose the bordering states namely West Bengal and Assam. Owing to this riot that took place between East Pakistan and West Pakistan led to economic crisis and instability in Bangladesh, which forced more and more people to cross the border and come to these bordering states in search of work. During the period of 1971 and 1991, the state of Assam witnessed a massive growth of 77.42% of Muslim population, which was the result of illegal immigration by the Bangladeshi Muslims. One important aspect of international migration in Assam is that most immigrants take advantage of an extremely permeable border and environmental crisis in Bangladesh and relatively greater economic opportunities for livelihood in Assam and other parts of India provide the primary motivations for cross-border migration of population. The district of Dhubri in Assam exemplifies how illegal permeation into the State continues unabated as it shares the riverine border with Bangladesh. The number of illegal immigrants in this region is relatively higher than other districts and cities as the mighty River Brahmaputra that flows into Bangladesh from Assam provides an expedient entry point to these immigrants to enter into the state illegally.

Stop Illegal immigration in Assam

Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to Assam have become a major problem for the state but the politicians seem to take no action to prevent it and support illegal immigration for vote-bank politics. This vote bank politics has changed the enchanting state into a festering pouch of communal violence between the native Assamese people and the Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh. This has also turned into threat to national security as it has led to changes in the demography of the state as well as has caused grave internal security issues in Assam. The illegal immigration from Bangladesh should be stopped completely and the political leaders of the state should take stern action against this in order to prevent communal violence and other mishaps.

Image courtesy - msn