The Dhaka Times Desk After the controversial campaign to identify 'genuine citizens' in India's northeastern state of Assam, detention camps are being held in Mumbai for alleged 'illegal Bangladeshis'!
About 2 million people in Assam are feared to be stateless. It has been clearly indicated that a similar campaign is about to begin in Maharashtra in western India. As its first step, the Maharashtra government has also taken the initiative to build a huge 'Foreigner's Detention Center' or 'Foreign Detention Camp' on the outskirts of Mumbai to detain 'illegal foreigners' in the state.
The government of India is planning to build this center in the Nerul area of the suburb called 'Navi Mumbai', which is known as the financial capital of India. The Maharashtra Home Ministry has already written to the City and Industrial Development Corporation in Navi Mumbai to take a decision to acquire a plot of 450 square meters for the same.
Government officials in Mumbai have confirmed that the land is being acquired to house 'illegal foreigners'. The land, which currently runs a shelter for distressed women, will be converted into a detention camp.
Assam has already set up 6 detention centers where hundreds of people have been detained as suspects, observers have suggested that Mumbai is going to follow the same path this time. The move is also believed to be closely related to the state assembly elections to be held in October.
PK Shajahan, a professor and sociologist at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, said that, "Every time before the elections in Mumbai and Maharashtra, there is an attempt to make the 'illegal Bangladeshi expulsion' a political issue." There is no doubt that the same effort is being made in the name of building a detention center.
Professor Shahjahan also said, 'There is only a month left for the polls, before that it may not be possible to start a process like NRC in Assam. Because there is not enough time for that. However, by talking about building a detention center, the BJP-Shiv Sena is trying to prove that if they come to power again, they will chase away the so-called 'illegal Bangladeshis'!
Zakia Soman, a leader of the Mumbai-based Indian Muslim Women's Movement, fears again that the proposed center will no doubt be harassed by genuine Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens of India in the name of filling up Bangladeshis.
Zakia Soman was telling the media, 'Look, we have come to know that some Bangladeshi citizens are deported from Mumbai almost every month. That trend may increase slightly ahead of the vote. But that number is never so high that it would require the establishment of a Pellay center in the suburbs.'
Soman also said, 'I fear that now that such detention centers are full – to show that several Bengali Muslims from West Bengal working in Mumbai, who may not have proper documents, will try to put them here.'
On the other hand, as the NRC issue is becoming a politically sensitive issue in India, the main opposition Congress in Maharashtra is also hesitant to oppose the construction of this detention center.
When contacted in Mumbai, senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam (who himself is not actually from Maharashtra, but an immigrant from Bihar) also declined to comment on the matter.
However, Hindutva parties like BJP and Shiv Sena claim that the pressure of 'illegal Bangladeshis' in Maharashtra has increased so much that they have no choice but to build such centers.
An RSS influenced NGO called 'Rambhau Mahalgi Prabodhini' has been researching these alleged foreigners in Mumbai for a long time. Ravi Pokharna, executive officer of the organization, also feels that such a center should have been established in Mumbai much earlier. He said, 'Millions of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are not only putting pressure on Mumbai's resources and law and order situation, but also pose a great threat to national security.'
Ravi also said, 'That's why they have to be held in detention centers and they have to face trial. He should be sent back to his home country only after the expiry of the sentence. This is exactly what the Foreigners Act of India says.
So the drive to identify the so-called 'illegal Bangladeshis' is likely to begin in earnest ahead of the upcoming elections in Maharashtra, at least the government's urge to show it is high.
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