After the recent attacks by Bodo tribal militants on Bangadeshi migrants in Assam, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah blamed Narendra Modi for being responsible for the attacks: “In Assam, 30 Muslims were murdered. Why? Because BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi made a speech there and tried to incite people against Muslims. This is a fact. This truth cannot be denied,” Omar told an election rally at Tangmarg in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency. “Three days earlier, he (Modi) went there and branded all Muslims as Bangladeshis and today 30 Muslims have been put to sleep in the grave,” he added.
Is this really true? Which part of the speech was Omar Abdoolah listening to, which only he seemed to have heard? If Narendra Modi had really stated anything along those lines it would have been splashed across national news.
The enmity between Bodo tribals and Bangladeshi migrants is long standing. Attacks and riots have taken place a number of times in the last decade, under both a Congress state government and UPA central government.The recent attacks have nothing to do with Modi, any more than they had to do with Omar Abdullah. The deaths in Assam are indeed tragic, but it is puerile and pathetic to use this to blame your opponents for a long standing and complex problem.
Whether Omar Abdullah likes it or not illegal migrants are a genuine and well documented problem. There are various estimates of up to 20 million presently in India. The illegal migration is primarily in search of economical opportunities, but India has a duty to first provide for genuine Indian citizens, and the Bangladeshis who have migrated illegally to India do burdent the economy and scarce resources of Assam. The Congress and other such parties haven’t had the will nor the courage to address this issue because these illegal migrants are used to form a part of their vote bank.
In 1998, Srinivas Kumar Sinha, who then was governor of Assam, had sent a report to then Indian President, KR Narayanan, explaining about the problems that the unchecked illegal immigration of Bangladeshis would bring to the integrity of India. In that report, he had highlighted the history that Assam was first claimed by Pakistan during 1947 and then by Bangladesh, due to its rich natural resources. The report raised worries about what might happen if the illegal immigrants gain majority and ask for secession from India. He also cited the “Greater Bangladesh project” which might entice the immigrants to merge those regions of Assam with Bangladesh. The international success of other Islamic separatist movements and encouragement by hostile intelligence agencies may provide the driving force for this demand. The loss of lower Assam will severe the entire North-East from the rest of India.
The hypocrisy of the Abdullahs knows no bounds. The fact is that dozens of attacks of this nature took place on the Kashmiri Hindu community with alarming frequency throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, such that there is barely a Hindu left in Kashmir, and the displaced Hindus are afraid to come back.These vicious attacks owe a large part to the Abdullahs, who have ruled Jammu and Kashmir for three generations having created the atmosphere of hatred for this to occur. Omar Abdullah even today does not take seriously the task of rehabilitating the displaced Kasmiri Hindus. Come on Abdullah, try and practice rule of law and fairness in the state that you and your family have ruled for decades rather than spread your mischevious poisonous politics elsewhere.
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