Rohingyas in India?

Reuters photo

By

Ananya S Guha

There is no silence now on the government’s part. It has very clearly stated that the Rohingyas have terrorist connections, hence the government has to be careful in providing asylum to them. A very candid way of saying that it is trying to wash its hands of a humanitarian problem. The world now has leaders who have the mentality of extermination. The U.S. and North Korea are strong cases in point. Our government knows it can get away with this plea. After all, terrorism is a threat to the entire world. One can play on this argument, manipulate it and assuage resentment against Muslims in general.

Perhaps Indian history went all wrong with the advent of the Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Mughals? Must it not be corrected with a bark or bite at the Rohingyas, who have been tortured mercilessly in a neighbouring country? So we must be good neighbours with a country which openly questioned our attack against NSCN activists residing there.

We must bring peace in war. In fact we must buy it in the midst of a war against poor hapless people. Yes now I will say ‘long live the country,’ but with no cheers, let alone three. When the world is aghast at the onslaught against such people we smile and almost laugh it away. Only it is at the prod of Bangladesh do we awake to our senses. In Manipur some of them have been lodged in jails. A few were deported but they were found to be Myanmarese Buddhists. What a grave mistake we have made. The paths of religion people say show infinity. Not so in the India of our times, which professes to be secularist. Some religions are finite and circumscribed by heavy indictments.

The problem of refugees and the problem of migration are different. The former arises out of factors like persecution and genocide. The latter is worldwide due to better social and economic opportunities. The former has an immediate cause such as war or attacks. Have not countries like Greece rehabilitated Syrian refugees?

The Rohingya Muslims already living in India in sub human conditions do not want to go back to their homeland, which they see as despotic and criminal.

The U.S. which is responsible for worldwide intervention and aggrandizement in Islamic countries now ironically feels the pinch. So do other European nations. Terrorism of course in all forms must be roundly condemned. The reasons for them however may seem unpalatable to some of the Big Brothers of the world.

The perversity of world dominance by flagrant intrusions, has now its subtle ironies and pitfalls. You reap what you sow.

An NDTV programme showed that Rohingyas living in Jammu, Lucknow, Faridabad were by and large tranquil, having committed one or two petty crimes. This was aired on 16.9.2017.

Yet we criminalise people based on religions they belong to. We are creating a bedrock of insanity. Long live.

The point that I am trying to make is that of a humanitarian cause, stripped of political, religious and social moorings. The whole world, including India came to the rescue of Nepal during the cataclysmic earthquake. It is an open secret that India’s relation with that country is vacillating, from bittersweet to sour. Of course just at the time of the Rohingya massacre our Prime Minister had visited Myanmar and the relations seemed to be in peak of mutual confidence. That is beside the point. The point is that a genocide almost takes place in a neighbouring country, are we going to turn the proverbial blind eye? Of course discordant voices spell apprehension of an impending Islamic connection. That holds thin water because all religious minorities are not terrorists. Moreover refugees come impelled by circumstance and situation, having been forcibly driven out.

What does a nation stand for, if it cannot represent humane feelings? Religion has become so insanely muddled with domestic and international politics, that the world stands totally divided on religious ferment. Despite all the talk of global community or village, the strands of polarisation, in the world of today is all too apparent. Dummy wars continue, cold war has also become passé. It is only threats in the guise of nuclear devices. Human poverty, want and suffering do not strike our attention. At least we who have cherished passive paths of attaining independence. Ethics and politics today are the strangest bedfellows. They are mingled in quagmires of hate and belligerence. Impassioned feeling for the poor, downtrodden and suffering humanity are aberrations in humanity, glitches that should not be seen or spoken of. Long Live.

Ananya S Guha

Ananya S Guha was born and brought up in Shillong, North East India. He has seven collectionsof poetry and his poems have been published worldwide. They have also been featured in several anthologies. He is also a columnist, critic and editor. He now is a Regional Director at the Indira Gandhi National Open University and holds a doctoral degree on the novels of William Golding.