Burden of Assam: countering illegal migration from Bangladesh

Affiliation: Department of South Asian History, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Journal name

Asia and Africa Today

Edition

Issue 8

Pages

61-65

Abstract

The article discusses the political and legal aspects of illegal migration from Bangladesh to the Indian state of Assam. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War gave a huge impetus to the existing flows of migrants. Porous nature of the newly established IndiaBangladesh border further facilitated this process. Assam’s indigenous population was upset by the increasing influx of aliens which resulted in a public outrage that took form of the so-called Assam movement in 1978-1985. The anti-immigrant and nationalist agenda of the movement predetermined its violent nature. As a result, in 1983 the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act was adopted to put an end to illegal migration to the state. In addition, the federal government signed an accord with the protesters yielding to their demands on paper. However, the struggle to protect the indigenous Assamese population from the inflow of foreigners as the anti-immigration movement took a political form with setting up the Asom Gana Parishad that formed the provincial government in Assam in 1985-1990 and 1996-2001. With the 1983 Act being practically inapplicable and failing to make any considerable difference, the harsh rhetoric is still employed by nationalist parties for electoral gains while moderates allegedly try to woo Bangladeshi illegal migrants in order to get an advantage over their rivals. Identifying illegal migrants in Assam is not an easy task, thus the estimates vary from author to author. The legal actions taken by Sarbananda Sonowal, one of the former AGP leaders, resulted in repeal of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act. Now in his new capacity as the Assam chief minister and the local leader of Bharatiya Janata Party he seeks to update the National Register of Citizens in order to launch en masse deportations of foreigners residing in the state illegally in the run-up to the 2019 general elections.

Keywords

Bangladesh, Assam, illegal migration, Asom Gana Parishad, Sarbananda Sonowal

Publication date

10.08.2019

Number of characters

19731

Cite

GOST	Podoplelov S. Burden of Assam: countering illegal migration from Bangladesh // Asia and Africa Today – 2019. – Issue 8 C. 61-65 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://asaf-today.ru/S032150750005783-3-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032150750005783-3
MLA	Podoplelov, Svyatoslav A "Burden of Assam: countering illegal migration from Bangladesh." Asia and Africa Today 8 (2019):61-65. DOI: 10.31857/S032150750005783-3
APA	Podoplelov S. (2019). Burden of Assam: countering illegal migration from Bangladesh. Asia and Africa Today (8), pp.61-65 DOI: 10.31857/S032150750005783-3

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