Recently, Bimal Gurung, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader, alleged that Rohingya immigrants are being settled in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal as a conspiracy to cause demographic imbalance and render Gorkhas and other native communities homeless. Gurung has alleged that suspected Rohingyas are being deliberately pushed into the hills for vote banks, despite Centre identifying them as a security threat. In a press release, he has claimed that the Rohingyas are diluting the existing Gorkha, Adivasi, Rajbongshi and Indian Bengali population in the hills.
Earlier, actress Koena Mitra had also accused West Bengal government of settling illegal Rohingya immigrants. She had accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of giving Rohingyans land and settling them in the state despite Myanmar and Sri Lanka throwing them out because of their terrorist activities.
The TMC government has gained some notoriety in recent times due to its perceived Muslim appeasement. According to a recent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 40,000 Rohingyans staying across India have been instructed to settle in Bengal.
The Central government has maintained that the Rohingyans are illegal immigrants and a national security threat and must be deported. Not too long ago, an Al-Qaeda operative was arrested while trying to recruit Rohingyas in India amidst reports that terrorist organizations are radicalizing the ethnic community. Recently, eight families, consisting of 29 adults and 11 children were settled in the newly erected Rohingya colony in West Bengal. This was followed by the settlement of 73 more Rohingyas, taking the total tally of inmates to 102.
Not just West Bengal, but Rohingyas have been settled in various states like Jammu, Haryana as well as Delhi. As reported in November 2017 in Times of India, as many as 304 Rohingyas have been settled in Uttar Pradesh in districts Aligarh, Mathura, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Meerut. Yogi Adityanath referred to the Rohingyas as ‘intruders’ and not refugees. These Rohingyas are different from the thousands staying in camps set up by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) where UNHCR has issued cards to registered refugees to ensure that they are not arbitrarily arrested or prosecuted.
Rohingyas have also been settled in Haryana, in Nuh town, about 100 km from the national capital. As per government records, as of November 2017, over 1,360 Rohingya Muslims or rather 400 families are living in Mewat, which is a cultural region spanning across Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In fact, if reports are to be believed, boosted by the UPA government’s indifference to check their illegal immigration, they made the country their home without checking with the owners and as per a ground report by Swarajya have made Jammu the epicentre of their settlement. The erstwhile UPA government had in 2012 turned a blind eye to the illegal immigration, due to domestic political pressure and international concern over human rights. As a result of this inflow, their numbers have been pegged at about 40,000 which was excluding the 14,000 odd Rohingyas who are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Myanmar government has shared stories about the horror inflicted by Rohingya terrorists on the Hindus in Myanmar. There have been reports of mass graves of Hindus found killed by Rohingya terrorists. In September, last year, an Al Qaeda man, who was allegedly setting up base in Delhi, Mizoram and Manipur, was arrested from Delhi while trying to recruit Rohingyas.
Despite the apparent threat, the ‘prominent’ personalities of India have written to the Prime Minister to not deport the illegal Rohingya immigrants in India. Currently, Supreme Court is hearing a petition to prevent the deportation of Rohingyas filed by Prashant Bhushan where the petitioners are two Rohingya immigrants.
