In Kerala, migrant labourers from the North go under the label ‘Bhais’ and, of late, specifically, Bengalis. The Bhadralok of Bengal will cringe in outrage but the truth is there are not too many from West Bengal seeking manual labour in Kerala. Till recently, migrants were mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. What is causing a major security challenge is the surge of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who are using the migrant tag to settle in Kerala after obtaining fake IDs. Now, the state police have started sending smoke signals to the political masters, as many officers feel illegal Bangladeshi immigrants could pose more of a threat than Maoists.
It is estimated there are at least 15 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India. Many have moved to remote corners of the country; and Kerala would easily account for a few lakh. The result: the changing demographics is affecting the way of life of locals resulting in tension in many such pockets favoured by immigrants. A string of crimes committed by migrants, right from the sensational Jisha murder case show things are coming to a boil. With many illegal immigrants laying their hands on Aadhaar cards and Electoral IDs with the help of local political parties, the threat is no longer theoretical.
Even the state government’s AAWAZ health insurance scheme has come in handy for these illegal immigrants to get a makeover as migrants. As per data available from the Ministry of Home Affairs, so far Kerala has issued 62,441 registration cards to migrant workers. Till date, no real effort has been made to sort out the illegal immigrants, including quite a few Rohingyas, from the migrants. A study by Sanjeev Tripathi, the former head of R&AW regarding the grave danger posed to the nation’s internal security by illegal immigrants seems to be coming true in Kerala. Surely, the state can no longer delay a comprehensive security policy to deal with the reality called illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.