Schoolgirls in Assam don't want to talk - nobody listens to them"Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbance." This comment from the Supreme Court came not after the serial blasts that killed scores but more than three years ago on July 12, 2005. [...]Meanwhile a a funny thing came to our notice. A CNN-IBN article (one of the current headlines) reports that "according to latest official figures" an estimated 2.2 lakh illegal Indian immigrants are residing in the US. A google search reveals that similar stories came out on TOI, the Economic Times and The Hindu. Now, the actual report [pdf] appears to be dated September, 2008. The news release also came out in September.
Both the governments paid scant attention to the ominous signals that the Supreme Court read from the November 8, 1998 report of then governor Lt Gen S K Sinha, who had prepared it after a thorough inspection of border areas and districts, discussions with the Indian high commissioner in Bangladesh and talks with political leaders. What Lt Gen Sinha’s report brought out before the apex court in 2005 was the grim ground reality of Assam. His report stated: "The illegal migrants coming into India after 1971 have been almost exclusively Muslims... Muslim population in Assam has shown a rise of 77.42% from what it was in 1971. Hindu population has risen by nearly 41.89%." [link]
Why then would so many Indian newspapers report it in the month of November?
What's the connection you ask? Well, if you were able to figure that out, we confer an honorary bachelors degree in Indian politics on you.
3 comments:
The news item seems to be from IANS agency. May be it caught their eye after a while or its how quickly they report news.
IANS reported it on Nov 1 as well. They will try to maximize revenues. So they will obviously keep an eye on interesting tit bits - more syndication fees. The fact that they published it on Nov 1 with a lag of more than a month is suspicious. There are several current items on their websites now that does not suggest any reporting lags.
Secondly just because IANS has an item does not mean major Indian newspapers jump at it and publish it on the same day.
Check out: http://www.ians.in/aboutus-news.php
Very interesting and intelligent observation that has escaped the attention of most.
It is obvious that the reach of some politicians who have a vested interest in keeping illegal Bangladeshis in India is formidable. The timing is to mischievously counter the demand to deport them, particularly after the recent blasts in Assam where Assamese have already been reduced to minority by them.
I have written on the subject in some detail in the post "Bangladeshis are Pakistanis, not Indians; send them back" at http://vinodksharma.blogspot.com/2008/10/bangladeshis-are-pakistanis-not-indians.html
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