Nuh riots give BJP big 2024 poll opportunity: Flush out illegals from Delhi-NCR

In 2016, Union minister Kiren Rijiju had told India’s Parliament that there were about 2 crore (20 million) illegal Bangladeshis living in the country, according to the data available with him. Many say that figure is extremely conservative, and the real numbers could be more than 3 crore.

Now, let us put this figure in perspective.

India’s capital New Delhi has 1.47 crore voters. So, illegal Bangladeshis nationwide make up for one-and-a-half to two times of Delhi’s voting population. Add to it illegally crossed over Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

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The United Nations conservatively estimates that nearly 40,000 Rohingyas had entered India. Reported growth rates of this group are alarming in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar — site of the biggest Rohingya displacement camp in the world. The annual population growth rate of Rohingyas is reportedly 5 per cent as compared with Bangladesh’s national growth rate of 1.1 per cent and India’s .8 per cent.

The overwhelming majority of the illegal immigrant population in India is Muslim. This skews with great portent the demography of a nation from which two Islamic countries had been carved out during Partition.

One recent tragic event, however, presents the Narendra Modi government with a serendipitous opportunity to reverse the trend: the Nuh-Mewat communal riots. The sacrifice of six lives in the conflict could be used to save many more lives in the future.

When the Haryana Police started investigating and raiding places from where the violence emanated, they reportedly found entire shantytowns packed with illegal immigrants, including many Rohingyas.

Many of these encroachments were cleared, more than 50 houses of Rohingya families razed, according to the Gurugram Police. Sabber Kyaw Min, founder and director of the NGO Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, even accepted that most of the Rohingyas in these camps work as rickshaw pullers, ragpickers, and vegetable sellers.

The police say that the illegal inhabitants of these shanties were actively involved in the violence that took away six lives and destroyed vehicles and property worth crores of rupees.

This, however, presents a much larger opportunity for the ruling BJP both at the state and the Centre. It can begin walking the talk on reversing illegal immigration and a demographic takeover.

Here is how.

The BJP could use the findings from the Nuh riots and the Delhi riots of 2020 to start a detection, detention and deportation drive of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in the National Capital Region (NCR) which comprises Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida. It extends up to Nuh, Panipat and Rohtak in Haryana, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar in UP, and Alwar and Bharatpur in Rajasthan. According to the local BJP’s estimates, there are more than half a million illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas settled only in Delhi.

The party has the advantage of having the police in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi reporting to its governments and the Centre. That makes coordination far easier. It steers clear of political interference and complexities of Muslim vote bank politics. It makes overt and covert action easier. And state and central intelligence agencies can work in tandem.

Bangladesh goes to elections later this year. If the Indian establishment throws its weight behind Sheikh Hasina and she returns to power, it will have enough leverage to make her take back a large section of those who have illegally crossed over from Bangladesh.

If done well, the BJP will go into the 2024 elections with a massive goodwill of not just Hindus but also minorities whose jobs and livelihood the illegal immigrants usurp. Already, lakhs of them have procured Aadhaar and other documents through well-oiled syndicates and by bribing Indian officials. They have infiltrated small jobs meant for India’s neo-middle class like delivery, repairing etc.

If the Narendra Modi government can display organised and determined action against the illegals, it could be a big election plank for 2024. It would also set the field for a nationwide NRC if Narendra Modi comes back to power.

It would be a bonanza for national security. India’s own poor will have more state benefits on their plates and fewer foreign entities robbing what is rightfully theirs. Lastly, it will create enough fear and disincentive for parasites of the nation’s largesse to stay on and bring in more.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.

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