Home Invasion in Bodoland - Part II

In continuation of the previous post.

'Structures'

While seculars have completely glossed over facts laid out in the previous post and settled on "Bodo massacre of Bengali Muslims" or some such nonsense, we take you to a very different place to explain  the genesis of this conflict.

In the last few years, a new and disturbing phenomenon has emerged. Muslims started gathering in strength, flash mob style, in dozens of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protected sites in the National Capital Region and started offering mass prayers. These are fragile buildings and have heritage status, they haven't been in use in perhaps centuries. The sites include the Qutub Minar. In any case, this is about existing and visible structures, but the scope has now increased phenomenally.

A few weeks ago, high drama erupted in the Subash Park area (near Jama Masjid) in New Delhi over claims that the area had the ruins of a mosque underneath it. A structure was illegally built over the site, thus preventing ASI from even ascertaining the claim. Needless to say the secular Govt of Delhi had no intention of forcefully removing the faithful from the area or demolishing the illegal structure over this completely absurd claim. This was not the only dispute over such things in New Delhi, previously, there was a huge chaos near the Jangpura area. A similar dispute came to light in Jalandhar.

Coming back to Bodoland, the recent clashes may have started over a Mosque as well. On May 29th, a minority students union called a strike over the removal of a sign from a newly built Mosque (de jure highly illegal in a tribal area). This led to drive by shootings and counter shootings that slowly escalated into mass violence. Seculars are counting a convenient shooting incident as the start, as though nothing had happened before that.

So, if indigenous minority populations are erupting into frequent violent disputes over new mosques and graveyard extensions (like in Bharatpur, Rajasthan), it is easy to see how endogenous growth combined with massive inflows will create tensions. These populations will require exclusive places, structures and pastoral and agricultural lands.

Dangerous Elements

Seculars have also tried to paint the influx as a mostly pitiable group of people, just trying to escape misery and make a living.

He added, "The UMNA is headed by Ramjan Islam. We suspect that Ramjan Islam and Ratul alias Mohibur Islam of Magurmari, Kokrajhar are the same person and he is involved in criminal activities. Mohibur was shot at on July 19 by unidentified armed youths and the Bodo people were blamed for it. The same night, some youths, suspected to be UMNA activists, came in motorcycles and destroyed the house of a Bodo family at Bhatipara. Mohibur alias Ratul is wanted by the police for stealing arms, murdering two women and shooting an obscene film inside the All Bodo Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU) office." [Link: Assam Sentinel]

It is a well known fact in the intelligence circles that Bangladesh and India's border areas have become a hotbed for ISI activities, counterfeit currencies, contraband smuggling, human trafficking and terror activities. While Kashmir still remains the pivotal Pakistan strategy to harass India, increasingly Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and UP - perhaps Bihar too are getting a slice of the action. Pakistan politicians, military strategists and some of their hard-line commentariat publicly say Assam is a key area of interest. While it is true that largely the incoming population or the endogenous populations remain impoverished people, there are dangerous elements with automatic weapons and worse on the prowl.

The Politics get murkier

If the media had tried to whitewash the clashes as an "ethnic conflict", the political leadership certainly did not make any pretense of doing to. The prime minister visited the area and met with minority leaders exclusively. Inflammatory statements were issued by prominent Muslim leaders like Badruddin Ajmal. They actually had the audacity to suggest the BTC (Bodoland Territorial Council) be dismantled, reportedly going so far as to suggest since Muslims now outnumber the Bodos, they have more rights - echoing the famous statement of the Prime Minister.

From Bihar to Hyderabad, Muslim leaders jumped on the bandwagon. MIM leader Owaisi led a relief team to Assam, exclusively for Muslims. Razakar elements now suddenly all lovey dovey over Bangladesh - it just couldn't get any more ironic.

The secular party also deployed rabid elements like Digvijay Singh who reiterated - there are no illegal immigrants in Assam. Of course, there are no terror cells in India, 26/11 did not happen and there was no inside support to the job.

The secular party seemed completely unperturbed by criticisms and announced a relief package. By the looks of it, they are treating the camps as staging areas for voter acquisition for 2014, with brazen plans underway to disperse them to key areas. This crisis is not going to waste, the party is treating it as a grand opportunity.

International Intrigue

While Bodoland continues to burn, yet another conflict was unfolding at the other border of Bangladesh with Burma.  Bangladesh is forcefully turning back Rohingyan refugees fleeing from clashes in Burma. The Bangladesh PM categorically said the Rohingyan are not her responsibility. In fact, Bangladesh is perhaps causing more human rights atrocities on the fleeing Rohingyan than the Burmese, with reports coming in of Bangladesh armed forces bombing boats with Rohingyan refugees.

Pakistan and India's minority Muslim politicians are trying to get maximum mileage over this. While the Rohingyan's are truly facing persecution and scores have been killed over clashes following the rape and murder of a Burmese girl by some Rohingyan youth, their misery has been amplified in the social networks using rumors, photo-shopped pictures and terrible propaganda. Indian minorities are highly agitated, if social media reactions are anything to go by. They are swallowing the propaganda hook, line and sinker while maintaining stoic silence over ethnic cleansing in Pakistan and Bangladesh, not to mention obvious violation of rights of minorities in China.

One can understand Pakistan's milking this issue, they thrive on borrowed victim-hood. But what has India got to do with it? Actually, a lot. Apparently Rohingyan's are now seeking political asylum in Hyderabad - a batch of about a few dozen have arrived.

The mind blowing hypocrisy and India's absurdly vulnerable position could not get any starker. So, India becomes a catchment for castaways from failed nations, whose victim-hood is borrowed by the ummah and milked to the fullest for political mileage. Obviously the Hyderabadi Muslim's love for ex-Bangla or ex-Burma will need to last for as long as they provide the electoral boost. After that it is going to be 1971 all over again.

Borrow victim-hood, get mileage and then do an ethnic cleansing of your own. Rinse. Repeat.

Conclusion

It is quite clear that India's political leadership is now actively aiding and abetting - first, the dilution and deliberate violation of rights of its own citizens. Second, they are playing into the hands of the rising ummah - the signs of which are unmistakable. Rapidly rising populations of certain groups are threatening the very existence of others. Yesterday it was Kashmiri Pundits, today it is the Bodos, tomorrow it will happen to more and more groups inland. Already native populations face extreme squeeze from Assam to Delhi to Rajasthan to West Bengal, with Kashmir and Kerala long gone. This is only getting worse since laws and the constitution are violently thrust aside by the tsunami of electoral realities.

How do we define nationhood in the backdrop of South Asian reality? Where do the loyalties lie? Clearly religion trumps borders or citizenship. Just how much bullshit the nation will have to take for supposedly  "victim" groups, who repeatedly prove to be aggressors?

Seculars keep drawing the red herring of "humanity" over the issue, but no one asks the real questions. If you have to make a choice and it increasingly looks like we will face nothing but binary choices in many situations, does citizenship mean anything at all? Also, why is Bangladesh getting a free pass? Surely they have some responsibility of keeping their citizens within their borders. While we scream "humanity", surely the influx is happening because Bangladesh is getting rid of its surplus? Clearly, they are simply not trying and neither is our political leadership. There are loads of creative ways, with help of Bangladesh of course, not only to reduce but to reverse this flow. But it does not help our "secular" politics, neither does it fill the coffers of our "secular" intellectuals.

There are two key takeaways from the plight of Bodos. The best strategy for survival in South Asia might just be to curve out your own place and erect as high walls around it as possible. Otherwise get wiped out. It will happen, for some in a couple of decades, for some, maybe five. But the signs are unmistakable.

The second is, we might be experiencing a dramatic shift in the leadership of the ummah. If the 80s and 90s saw Arab leadership, the power equation is now beginning to favor South Asia. Ironically, India's rise and its democracy has a lot to do with it.