GUWAHATI: An anti-Bangladeshi wave is sweeping Christian-majority Nagaland with groups pressuring the state government to check the influx of Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants. A local family was recently assaulted allegedly by migrants in Dimapur district, triggering an outrage among Nagas. Rumours are being circulated on social media that a Muslim cleric has announced jihad against Nagas and that locals could be attacked by Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim militants.
Worried by an alarming rise in the migrants’ population, Naga groups want the state government to deal with “IBIs” (illegal Bangladeshi immigrants) with an iron hand. Assuming any Bengali-speaking Muslim to be an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant will not be right, but that is the perception in the Northeast.
There are no official records of the migrants’ population in Nagaland, but it is believed to be around 2 lakh of the state’s 22.7 lakh people. Migrants control business, particularly in commercial hub Dimapur, and many of them are engaged in the unorganised sector.
Barring the state’s only plains township Dimapur, which neighbouring Assam had leased out in the 60s, the rest of Nagaland is protected by Inner Line Permit (ILP). The ILP was derived from British law “Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation” (BEFR) in 1873, which was enacted to isolate the backward areas. Amidst the outrage, the influential Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has demanded that Dimapur be brought under ILP purview.
“BEFR was enacted to protect the indigenous inhabitants, the state’s land and its resources from exploitation by outsiders. The present ILP system is liberal, ineffective and porous, thus negating the very purpose for which it was enacted,” NSF president K Christopher Ltu told The Sunday Standard. “The ground reality is that there is an impending threat of Nagas being outnumbered by illegal migrants. Dimapur district should come under ILP regulation. ILP should be issued only if the applicant furnishes voter ID, permanent residence certificate, etc,” he said.
Social group Survival Nagaland, which is spearheading a campaign against the migrants, also wants strict implementation of ILP system and coverage of Dimapur by it. “We’ll work out a formula. We don’t want genuine Indians to be harassed on the suspicion that they are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants,” said Chief Minister T R Zeliang. “Migrants come to Nagaland via Assam. So Assam has to play a pivotal role. We can’t solve the problem unless they lend their support,” he said, adding that Nagas must inculcate a work culture. “We, the Naga people, don’t want to work. We don’t have local workers and invite men from outside. This is the crux of the problem,” he said.