NEW DELHI: The BJP and RSS’ dilemma over opening the land borders with Bangladesh and giving refuge to Bangladeshi Hindus in India is increasingly being looked at askance, with right-wing analysts openly questioning their ideological mentors.
Two key pro-BJP voices, T Mohandas Pai and Sushil Pandit, on Monday asked why the government was not accepting persecuted Hindus into India, despite mounting evidence of atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh since the crisis began a week ago.
Sushil Pandit, an influential right-wing activist, who described the government’s position as “hypocritical”, said the lack of sympathy for Bangladeshi Hindus was downright “embarrassing”.
“We are upset with the government that this is happening…with genocide taking place so openly in Bangladesh. When there was a crisis in Afghanistan, the government rightly gave refuge to Sikhs. Why are they discriminating against the Hindus of Bangladesh? India has earlier provided refuge to Jews and Parsis,” Pai told The Tribune.
The government, on its part, has given orders that the land borders be reinforced with 70,000 BSF personnel so that undocumented Bangladeshi nationals, including persecuted Hindus, cannot enter Indian territory. On August 9, the BSF “peacefully foiled” an attempt by 1,700 Bangladeshi Hindus to enter India, with BSF officials saying they had strict instructions not to allow any undocumented Bangladeshis into India.
New Delhi has sought to impress upon the interim Bangladesh dispensation led by Muhammad Yunus that Hindus and other minorities need to be protected, with PM Narendra Modi making this pitch when he greeted Yunus.
RSS and BJP sources who spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity admitted that the Bangladesh crisis presented a grave challenge to the government and that there were no easy solutions. The CMs of Assam and Tripura, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Manik Sarkar, respectively, are believed not to be in favour of opening the land borders.
Some years ago, on the eve of bringing in the Citizenship amendment to the Constitution, then BJP president (and now Home Minister) Amit Shah had described Bangladeshis infiltrators as “termites”.
Over the past week, as the crisis has unfolded next door, RSS leaders have been engaged with the government on this complex issue, with a VHP delegation meeting Shah last week to demand protection for Bangladeshi Hindus and minorities.
“The Home Minister has expressed hope as the interim Bangladesh Government has not denied incidents of persecution of Hindus and will take appropriate action to control the perpetrators,” VHP president Alok Kumar told The Tribune.
Pai demanded that an ordinance be immediately brought to amend the Citizenship Amendment Act to allow refuge to persecuted Bangladeshi Hindus, Buddhists and other minorities.
The CAA currently offers Indian citizenship only to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians and Parsi migrants from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
Pai said India should offer refuge to anyone seeking shelter on grounds of documented religious persecution, and that Bangladeshi Hindus today fitted the plea. He said the Centre should devise a mechanism to segregate persecuted minorities from other immigrants.
Pandit pointed out that the CAA, which has limited scope, was kept in abeyance for five years before the rules were notified in March ahead of national elections because it was causing a lot of embarrassment that it was taking so long. He said the CAA still left out a vast multitude of Hindus who are being persecuted in Bangladesh. “There is not a word of sympathy for them from India, except a late realisation and lip service. It is embarrassing,” Pandit said.