Mumbai:
The passage of the controversial “The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in both the houses of the Parliament has predictably raised the hackles of the Congress led opposition. The passage of the bill has once again raised the issue of illegal immigrants especially from Bangladesh and Pakistan. More so, in the aftermath of the controversy over illegal Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar settling in different parts of the country. However, amidst all the controversy there is no authentic data available to show exact number of illegal immigrants over-staying in India.
With the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cracking the whip on its Members of Parliament to remain present during the passage of some important bills, it has only heightened the tensions.
The Center is seeking to amend section 2 of Citizenship Act of 1955 and insert a new clause to the Third Schedule of the Act. As per the new clause, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, the aggregate period of residence or service of Government in India as required under this clause shall be read as “not less than five years” in place of “not less than 11 years”. In doing so the government has reduced the mandatory waiting period from 11 years, to just five years.
The BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has been batting for granting naturalized citizenship rights to minority Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsi’s and Christian’s from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Vehemently opposing the move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remarked “if you give citizenship to all the communities, we will accept it. But if you discriminate on the basis of religion we will fight against it.” Whereas, the opposition is arguing that the amendment bill violates the provisions of Article 14, the right to equality and against discrimination on the basis of religion.
As per the governments written reply in the Lok Sabha on July 9, 2019, 2,447 immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were granted Indian citizenship since December 2016. However, there is no such record available with the police or the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) as to the number of illegal immigrants from especially from Pakistan and Bangladesh over-staying in India.
According to un-confirmed reports in a section of the media, there could be about 50 lakhs to 2 crore illegal Bangladeshi nationals, 13,000 Afghan nationals, 7,000 to 10,000 Pakistani nationals, 40,000 Rohingya’s and about 50,000 to 1 lakh Chin people from Myanmar illegally living in India.
Earlier, the FRRO office under the Special Branch of the state police used to keep a record of the immigrants over-staying. A decade ago, this reporter while doing a story on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Thane district had come across startling data of some Pakistani nationals over-staying in Maharashtra since the 1960’s. That data has been mysteriously taken down and is now no longer available.
However, during our under-cover investigations, touts revealed that the rate for smuggling a Bangladeshi nationals right up to Mumbai, costs more than those smuggled to other metro cities in the country. It may be recalled that on January 7, 2008, then chief minister of Maharashtra, late Vilasrao Deshmukh had mooted the idea of National Identity Card. The Center has been harping that illegal immigrants pose threat to national security, put pressure on resources like food, water, shelter and jobs.
