Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Mind your language, Mr Shah!' that was published in Newsband

Mind your language, Mr Shah!

The state, especially Assam, should assist people grappling with paperwork and bureaucracy to assert their claim to being legitimate citizens of India. India needs to officially give the assurance that it will not condemn undocumented immigrants. This empathy is in keeping with India’s tradition of giving refuge to those who have nowhere to go.

At a public meeting in Delhi, the BJP president, Amit Shah, referred to infiltrators allegedly in the country, claiming they were eating away at India’s future. He compared them with “deemak” (Hindi for termites). Shah has, of late, dwelt many times on the need to identify illegal immigrants in the country, whose numbers he says are in crores. Someone from Bangladesh has objected to Shah’s use of language.

There are some elements in BJP who are of the opinion that all those who are not of a particular religion are deemak to this country and until and unless they make this country only for a particular religion people they would say and do these types of things regardless if they are defeated.

But there are some who say that it is reality that Assam and it's neighbouring states have been suffering from illegal migration from Bangladesh. Border is of porous nature and there have been no effort to seal it even today whichever government is in power, state or central. The affected people complain that these immigrants are grabbing their lands, jobs, spreading fundamentalism, and committing crimes. If this is true then It is a burning problem specially in Assam. Our demography is changing. It is not about particular community or religion. Assam always embrace every religion, community, creed, culture and peaceful coexistence. But Bangladeshis are illegally entering whether they are Hindu/Muslim doesn't matter. The people of Assam are suffering the most. The petty liberal war, ideological war, political inclinations, and human rights clamour do not solve their problems. Reality is different from narrow myopic prism of impractical hullabaloo. The people of Assam are ultimate sufferers owing to illegal immigrants. They have always been used by the political parties for vote bank.

Assam is suffering most among all the states of India in having to give refuge to innumerable refugees from the nations along its borders. Many of them have been allowed to vote by crooked means. They have to be found out and removed from the Assam election Register. Refuge is alright but allowing them to vote as Indian citizens seems the height of wrong doing to India's true proletariat.

However, whatever may be the case, Amit Shah's phraseology of termites is harsh especially when migration is the bitter option for those denuded of even a humble livelihood by the policies of the state. Shah must mind his language. His remark on the people who are left out in the NCR in Assam as termites is not in good taste. Rajnath has given hopes to the left out by appealing and at this juncture Shah's remarks can spoil the good relationship we have with Bangladesh.