Left regime in Bengal flouted India’s sovereignty through boosting Islamists’ illegal immigration from Bangladesh

Fake ration cards issued to illegal Islamists to retain Left rule for decades  

The 34-year long rule of Left Front in Bengal, according to some quarters, was not spontaneous but the effect of a few secret measures adopted by the Left bigwigs to retain the hegemony for the eternity. There are enough reasons behind this too – effective measures of the Left Front (1977-1982) including implementation of land reforms, reorganization of Panchayats, expansion of notion of small agriculture, provision to render foods in exchange of works in villages and rural economic development, in spite of making people realize a positive “change” in the state’s administration, could not guarantee a long Left sway in Bengal. And this was found most through a few setbacks in the next election of 1982. Even if Left Front could manage to retain their dominance through winning the election, a deep uncertainty started to prevail its premier leaders.     

There was the need of a stable alternative that could provide the Left a certainty as regards sustenance of their triumph. And there was no better than to give a fillip to illegal immigration of Islamists from Bangladesh to India; the success would ensure their sway completely. With this end in view, a vicious plan was undertaken subverting the basic notion of sovereignty and democracy. Illegal immigration became order of the day. An assortment of reports of that period and also contemporary do assert the precarious fallout of the same. The bordering districts of India-Bangladesh border have virtually turned into Islamists’ strongholds where each Hindu man has got to live in utter fear (as if he is living in an Islamic state, fond of devouring non-Muslims or Kafirs day in and day out) and modesty of a Hindu woman remains highly susceptible.   

Let’s concentrate on the reigning situation in 24 Paragnas (bordering district). In accordance with Sri Bimal Pramanik, as stated in his Endangered Demography: Nature and Impact of Demographic Changes in West Bengal (1951—2001), “The 1981-1991 decade witnessed a massive growth rate of Muslim population, viz. 41.47%. This obviously is due to Muslims infiltration from Bangladesh. Consequently, the share of Muslim population rose from 22.43% (1971) to 24.22% (2001) within three decades, in spite of a massive Hindu immigration from Bangladesh during the same period. It will be more revealing if we go through the Block-level demographic changes. It needs a special mention that a large number of Muslims who had migrated to East Pakistan after Partition came back to this district not only during 1951-1971 but also after 1971, and this remains a persistent trend till today. Another important feature that needs mention in this connection is the continuous in-flow of Urdu speaking Muslims from Bangladesh after 1971.”

Hindus have also been entering India from Bangladesh but as persecuted people only and this gets more evident from the fact that they continue to live in Bengal but devoid of any ration card, not to speak of any proper identity. And Left Front had been brilliant in denying their claims of being legitimate refugees while bestowing all sorts of legal facilities on Islamists without delay.  

As stated by Article 1 of the 1951 UN Convention as amended by the 1967 Protocol a Refugee is "A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.." Hindus of Bangladesh are refugees and any fact to deny this is not only untruth but simply baseless.

All these are told since a latest review has unearthed that 3.8 million people in the state have been using bogus ration cards (provided only in Left regime only). In accordance with the report “3.8 million and counting” as published in The Statesman, even if the reigning government has been able to seize all these fake cards, 7.5 million more such cards are believed to be in circulation. On the word of Jyotipriya Mallik, Minister for Food and Supplies, “We started this drive from the very beginning of my tenure but for the past few months we were busy with procurement. We resumed the drive in April and in one month 1.8 million bogus ration cards were seized.” He has also been learnt to ask ration dealers and distributors firmly to deposit fake ration cards within the specific period or to remain prepared for harsh measures.

It has also been stated in the report, a senior officer of the said department stated explicitly that fictive ration cards had been distributed excessively under the aegis of Kalimuddin Shams, senior leader of Forward Bloc and also the permanent Minister for Food and Supplies during the Left rule. Perhaps no one has to strain anymore to comprehend this simple arithmetic.

Saffron brigade, for decades, has been asserting the same, brushed aside as a deep-rooted communal (and also baseless) allegation by sane individuals.

A fact is a fact; it can’t be contradicted on flimsy ground that evokes laughter and makes once skeptical of gray matter of the concerned questioner or “secular” intellectual.