Living up to its election promise that its government will welcome Hindu refugees back to India if voted to power, the Modi government has in the last one year granted citizenship to at least 4,300 Hindu and Sikh refugees who came from Pakistan and Afghanistan. During the five years of UPA-II, the figure was 1,023. In April last, the home ministry had rolled out an online system for Long Term Visa applications and for their processing by agencies. The decision was taken to address the difficulty faced by Hindu and Sikh minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had come with the aim of settling permanently in India. There are 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements in cities like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jaipur. Hindu refugees from Bangladesh mostly live in West Bengal and the Northeast.
The number of Hindus and Sikhs fleeing discrimination and terror from neighbouring nations may hit one million by December 2016—and they all get permanent rights to stay here. Under the Indo-Nepal treaty, every Nepali citizen has an automatic right to live and work in India. No other Asian country has anything like this. China and Japan allow almost no immigration at all. Every Hindu or Sikh fleeing Bangladesh and Pakistan, and now even Afghanistan, has come here. Bangladesh’s Hindu population has fallen from a post-Partition 21 per cent to under 8 per cent now. Most Pakistani Hindus made it here during Partition, but the 2 per cent still left are looking at India as the only hope in the face of Islamic persecution. Persecuted Lankan Tamils have been accommodated in India despite the rabid nature of some.
BJP’s rivals and self-styled secularists might give it a communal twist but the truth is that India has given refuge to victims of persecution everywhere. Sadly, violence is being ratcheted up in our neighbouring countries. Given the reality that the most likely victims of persecution in the neighbourhood are likely to be Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists, the criticism of the BJP manifesto promise is misplaced. The phoney secularists ought to realise and appreciate the service that India, especially in recent times, is rendering to victims of persecution. Organisations like the UN must work to ensure greater protection and succour to minority communities so that they are not forced to flee.
