Debates on illegal immigration during Delhi elections have a more than 30-year history

Abhik Bhattacharya

The BJP and the AAP had locked horns implicit illegal immigrants adjacent weeks earlier the Delhi assembly elections were declared. The Delhi authorities asked schools to fortify the verification process to guarantee that nary amerciable migrant gets admission, portion the BJP enactment accused AAP MLA Mohinder Goyal of facilitating Aadhaar cards for Bangladeshi immigrants.

This is not the archetypal clip that Delhi elections person witnessed governmental mudslinging implicit this issue. In astatine slightest 3 consecutive assembly elections since 1993, Bangladeshi amerciable immigrants took centre signifier successful campaigns. In January 1993, past BJP MP Madan Lal Khurana marched with his supporters to Okhla to region alleged amerciable Bangladeshi settlers. However, it wasn’t conscionable the BJP — the Congress government, nether the enactment of P V Narasimha Rao, launched an “action plan” successful 1991 to place and deport amerciable immigrants from Bangladesh.

Since the enactment of Bangladesh, galore Bangladeshi immigrants person settled down successful antithetic parts of the country, including Delhi. However, it wasn’t a boiling contented earlier the aboriginal 1990s. In 1989, Jyoti Basu, past main curate of West Bengal, sent a missive to Rajiv Gandhi expressing his concerns astir irregular immigration. But thing overmuch was done to incorporate the inflow.

Within a mates of years, the governmental scenery of the state changed, arsenic did the Congress’s politics. In her 2003 EPW paper, ‘Operation Pushback’, student Sujata Ramachandran writes that successful the governmental discourse of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, the Congress could not support distant from the conversations connected amerciable immigration. The authorities of communal balancing — Rajiv Gandhi’s efforts to placate some the number and bulk communities done striking down the Shah Bano verdict and opening the gates of the Babri Masjid — contributed to the policy-level change. The recognition of “others” seemed politically expedient. A effect by M M Jacob, past curate of authorities successful the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs, connected April 23, 1992, corroborates this transition. Whereas successful 1989, nary amerciable immigrants had been deported, successful 1990, the fig roseate to one. But suddenly, successful 1991, the fig was 118, and the pursuing twelvemonth — up to April 4, 1992 — it was 172. The Congress, though, failed to reap immoderate payment from its enactment plan, besides known arsenic “Operation Pushback”, and the BJP won the 1993 Delhi assembly elections, with Khurana becoming main minister.

The contented cropped up again successful the 1998 Delhi elections but successful a antithetic context. The Shiv Sena-BJP authorities successful Maharashtra, which assumed bureau successful 1995, had conducted regular drives to deport Bangladeshi immigrants from Mumbai. The location minister, L K Advani, said successful Parliament that 3 batches of Bangladeshi immigrants had been nabbed and deported. But arsenic the BJP-led NDA formed the authorities astatine the Centre a fewer months earlier the Delhi assembly elections, the enactment didn’t travel its earlier approach. In 1995, erstwhile Khurana seemingly went brushed connected his attack pursuing a Supreme Court bid that the authorities should perceive retired each idiosyncratic marked arsenic a overseas national, B L Sharma ‘Prem’, BJP MP from the East Delhi constituency, objected and said that the cardinal enactment of the enactment should instrumentality the call, not Khurana. The RSS, however, doubled down connected Indian Muslims. In its September 13, 1998 issue, Organiser wrote, “It is the work and work of Muslims successful assorted localities to pass the constabulary astir specified infiltrators residing successful their midst,” adding, “had the Muslim assemblage taken the inaugural to ferret retired specified infiltration, what an magnitude of fuss and unpleasantness would person been saved”! On this occasion, the BJP failed to signifier the authorities and Sheila Dikshit became the Delhi CM for the archetypal time.

In 2003, amerciable immigrants became an contented aft the Delhi HC pulled up the Congress authorities for the beingness of astir 13 lakh Bangladeshi immigrants successful the city. Khurana instantly made it a canvass plank and said the Dikshit authorities was giving ration cards to amerciable immigrants to summation votes. He accused her of adding 10 lakh caller voters to the list. Khurana, on with BJP spokesperson V K Malhotra, besides met with the main predetermination commissioner, J M Lyngdoh, to item the issue. Advani said determination were astir 1.5 crore Bangladeshi amerciable immigrants successful the country, and called them a “major interior information threat”. But Dikshit’s transportation connected governance succeeded, and the Congress retained power. In 2008, the BJP brought up the contented successful its canvass manifesto, saying, “Illegal infiltration would beryllium severely curbed and amerciable foreigners would beryllium identified and deported.”

In 2013, Indian authorities witnessed a large shift, with the anti-corruption question taking centre stage. The occurrence of the AAP led to the catalysing of narratives centred connected development, corruption, and accountability. The consequent autumn of the Congress and resurgence of the BJP besides made the contented redundant, astatine slightest for a while. The elections of 2015 and 2020 were fought connected payment schemes and developmental politics. As the sermon of infrastructural improvement dies down, with governmental parties emphasising competitory freebies, the AAP and the BJP person again fallen backmost connected the aged tactic. Delhi authorities is fraught with galore issues — pollution, sanitation, security, employment, health, education. Political parties request not hark backmost to the contented of amerciable migrants for electoral gains.

abhik.bhattacharya@expressindia.com