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Interesting editorial
BOMB blast in Jaipur. Round up the usual suspects. Calling Abdul, Rahman, Rahim, Karim, Salim. All you "illegal" Bangladeshi immigrants within our borders. Report to the newest detention centers. It's not who you say you are, it's what we say you are. Bangladesh has emerged as the all-purpose "Nondo Ghosh" (joto dosh) for Indian intelligence agencies. Attack on train station? Defused bombs? Bicycle bombs? Bag bombs? It must be the ultra-efficient, tentacle-spreading spectre of "terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh." [...]
I remember the old days of Indian media hysteria about "Pakistani" militants. Bullet riddled bodies (the dead don't talk) and Pakistani passports (always in their pockets!). But Pakistan has become more complex, with its role in the US axis of the willing. Plus, the public wants new, fresh faces. Some time in the last few years, it has become easier and acceptable to bring out the Bangladeshi "militant cell" bogey. That there is Islamist politics inside Bangladesh is not in question. [...]
Of course, there are many Bangladeshi immigrants inside India. There will always be. The real question about Jaipur is -- who are these people in the "Bangali Para" -- what were they doing all this time? Working for middle class Indian families, of course. Everyone in India knows exactly why these people are there -- to work. As household help, cleaners, sweepers, cooks, maids, taxi drivers, tailors, weavers, jewellery makers, construction workers. Keeping Shining Indian rolling along. Yesterday, they were your convenient and easy source of cheap labour. Why are they a problem today? As India develops as a hyper-growth Asian tiger, with Bangladesh next door, immigration is inevitable. Until we become a medium growth country, we will be as a "Mexico" to India's "United States." Bangladeshis, hungry for work, willing to work, with families to feed, will cross the borders. [link]
3 comments:
We (read Hindus) are damned if we ever point the finger to Muslims. Everyone will be happy if the RSS takes the blams for the blasts. No more crybaby editorials then. Note I did not even mention the genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh.
so, is Pakistan, a more expensive option out of fashion these days? the world Terrorism, appears to be downgrading, to the cost-effective destination in vogue, i.e Bangladesh? instead of churning out such guess-work & insipid theories, can the system think of a more effective mechanism to minimise loss of lives n to fight against terrorism, before the arrival of the New-kid-on-the-block? which country would be the prime suspect after Bangladesh?
-Anonymous Bloop
Clearly the columnist is cut pasting talking points from the immigrant debate in the West. It is questionable how much the same applies to our country. India has many of its own poor people, 700 million approx., who are willing to, and already do the kind of work that Bangladeshis are doing. Why import more?
Apart from depresseing wages and building troubling ghettos, which we have in multitudes, there really is no other utility to Bangladeshi presence. Their huge numbers, communal history and inimical attitude of their home country doesn't help the illegal Bangladeshis' cause either.
The political consequences of Bangladeshi presence are all too apparent in Assam, a tinderbox waiting to explode.
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