There are some harsh realities about demographic disturbances taking place in the states of West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, which will in due course have nation-wide ramifications. This is mainly because of massive influx and infiltration from East Bengal into these states immediately after partition. No wonder the Muslim population share in these states has not grown just substantially but exponentially. Just because the Bharatiya Janata Party government is doing it should not necessarily mean that the Congress should oppose it. Reality checks are important. Political correctness may end up being fatal.
Easiest thing to do in India is to get an ‘Election Photo Identity Card’ (EPIC) made. This is done all over the country by almost all the political parties to increase their voter/ support base. No political leader bothers to check and verify the credentials of the prospective voters as long as he believes that s/he is going to vote for him. This problem is not exclusive to West Bengal, Bihar or Assam alone, it is happening in Punjab as well. It will not be that far when people in Punjab will realise the “exponential increase” in the number of “outsiders/ non-Punjabis” as voters.
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The Election Commission of India, by starting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, has done the right thing, although quite late. It should have been done much earlier. The move should ideally be welcomed by everyone irrespective of political affiliations or ideologies. The ECI is constitutionally authorised and duty bound to do so. Also, the ECI has to ensure that a voter is a “citizen” of India. After all, that is the basic requirement in any electoral democracy. How can a non-citizen be allowed to be a voter/ elector of the government?
If this had not been done so far does not mean it cannot be done now and if it is being done now, it is unconstitutional or disenfranchisement or the “murder of democracy” as the opposition parties will make us think. Why should someone who is not a citizen of India, but has entered into the country illegally, be entitled to vote to elect the governments in India? What is wrong in disenfranchising those who are not entitled to franchise? Universal adult franchise must not be taken literally and anyone under the sun living in this universe has the right to vote in India. There is a condition that s/he should be a citizen of India.
Opposition parties, particularly the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, have a reason to resist the SIR. They assume that all those who would be found not entitled to be voters will mostly, if not all of them, be the supporters of either of the two parties. This is the lowest that the “vote bank politics” can stoop to. It is an accepted and acknowledged fact that massive illegal immigration took place into India for decades after the partition from East Bengal.
Just take the comparative demographic figures of three states of West Bengal, Bihar and Assam since partition of the country. In West Bengal, the Muslim population percentage according to the 1951 census, first after independence, was 19.85, while today it is 27.01. In Bihar, the Muslim population percentage in 1951 was 8.7, while today it 16.87. Similarly, in Assam, the Muslim population percentage in 1951 was 24.68, while today it is 34.22.
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And when India was partitioned, as the Muslims wanted a separate homeland, the total Muslim population was 24.3 per cent. It came down to 9.8 per cent in 1951. Today, the Muslim population percentage in India is 14.2.
Compare these figures with the Hindu population percentage in Pakistan and Bangladesh. At the time of partition, it was about 24 per cent. It dropped to about 2 per cent now, while in Bangladesh it has dropped from about 30 per cent to 8 per cent and it is consistently declining.
These are some important and sensitive, may be inconvenient, facts and figures, which are not being talked about in the public space just for the sake of political correctness. But imagine the audacity of the political parties like the Congress, the RJD and the Trinamool Congress who are all defending the “right of vote” of all those who have illegally infiltrated/ immigrated into India. Just because that particular section of the population supports these political parties for no hidden reasons does not mean screening them is unconstitutional or undemocratic.
India in general and some political parties in particular will need to learn from the harsh experiences in Europe, England in particular, where a particular type of immigrants, although not in majority, but in significant numbers in several parliamentary constituencies are electing their own people while the locals/ natives are losing continuously.
While these ‘immigrants’ initially supported the Labour Party against the Conservatives for its pro-immigrant policies now they are electing their “own” people and not the Labour Party candidates. Initially, these people may support the parties and get their help and support, but only till the time they reach a position where they can elect their own representatives. That is how the political space is captured.
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This should ideally serve as a lesson for the political parties in India like the Congress, the RJD or the Trinamool Congress. But, by the time they learn and realise it, like the Labour Party did in England, it would be too late. So late that in a country like England such people have not stopped merely at electing their representatives to the parliament, but have even set up separate ‘Sharia’ courts in such constituencies where they have achieved demographic dominance, thanks to British "liberalism".
Initiatives like SIR will always face stiff and strong resistance from vested interests for partisan reasons, but these need to be carried out and taken to the logical conclusion, come what may. If the United States can identify and deport illegal immigrants, India can at least prevent them from voting to begin with. It may not sound cool, but it is important for the country.
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