The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to grant asylum or rehabilitate immigrants from strife-torn Bangladesh in any of the Northeastern states.
NESO, a conglomeration of eight students’ bodies from the region, stated that the ongoing crisis in Bangladesh will and may lead to an exodus of its nationals into India, particularly to the states sharing borders with the neighbouring nation.
“Not a single Bangladeshi should be granted asylum or rehabilitated in the entire northeastern region,” NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the backdrop of the current situation, Jyrwa underscored the need for the government of India to ensure that the border between northeast India and Bangladesh is thoroughly and strictly manned so as to detect attempted illegal migration from across the border.
Tripura shares an 856 km-long border with Bangladesh, while Meghalaya has 443 km, Mizoram 318 km and Assam 262 km border with the neighbouring country.
Referring to past events where the northeastern region had to bear the brunt of mass illegal immigration from Bangladesh, NESO mentioned the partition in 1947, where hundreds of thousands of Bengalis from East Pakistan illegally crossed the border and forcibly occupied lands in Assam and Tripura (then a Union Territory); during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, many from East Pakistan migrated to India, including the northeast, especially in the states of Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya (then a part of the composite state of Assam).
“The northeastern region is home to a plethora of indigenous communities, which are microscopic in numbers and lives, amongst their own communities in traditionally marked territories. The arrival of millions of illegal foreigners from other countries led to a contestation of space, forced cultural assimilation, economic competition, and distrust between the indigenous populace and the foreigners,” NESO said.
