‘Greater Bangladesh’ idea angers Assam (Letters to the Editor)

Here is an uproar in Assam over a “Greater Bangla” proposal mooted in a Net

discussion by a group of Bangladeshi intellectuals, who feel that a loose
political confederation comprising Bangladesh, West Bengal and the seven
northeastern states is indeed feasible. Taking a serious view of this idea being
propagated, the ruling Asom Ganan Parishad brought the matter to the notice of
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, home minister L.K. Advani, defence minister
George Fernandes and external affairs minister Jaswant Singh. In a letter to
Advani, a copy of which has been taxed to The Newspaper Today, Dr. Jayasree
Goswami Mahanta, AGP MP in the Rajya Sabha, sought an immediate inquiry into the
matter and asked the Centre to take up the issue with Dhaka. Mahanta, wife of
Assam ex-chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, said in her letter to Advani that
the matter is highly sensitive and “alarming not only for Assam or the Northeast
but also for the whole country.” She said unlike the border in Kashmir that has
“natural barriers,” the border along Bangladesh in Assam, Meghalaya and other
parts of the region is porous and navigable in certain stretches. The idea of a
confederation with clear separatist designs was floated in an article by Dr. A.H.
Jaffor Ullah, a Bangladeshi national, in the website deja.com. It is not that
there has been widespread support to the idea. Bangladeshi intellectuals like the
US-based Dr Asad Khan have strongly opposed the idea in course of the discussion
on the Net. Dr Jaffor Ullah (intelligence sources here are not sure whether it is
the writer's real name) talks about the “benefits” of such a confederation and
says that the new entity that could well emerge would cover an area of 1,89,733
square km comprising a total of 250 million people. The area, he says, would
prosper economically through inter-trading among the different states. The writer
even went to the extent of talking about the economic stagnation in the Northeast
and has blamed New Delhi for the situation. “The economic malaise in Northeast
India has been endemic for quite some time. For too long, the region has been
neglected by the planners in New Delhi. For the last half a century, the region
was affected economically without taking part in wealth accumulations He has also
touched on the extremely delicate issue of sovereignty by stating that the seven
northeastern states cannot form a sovereign nation of their own but their problems
would he solved if they agree to form a loose confederation with Bangladesh. The
local media in Assam has picked up this issue and has cautioned the government in
the state and the Centre not to take the issue lightly. The All-Assam Students'
Union, that is leading the movement in the state against illegal Bangladeshi
migration, has called upon all indigenous people here, to fight unitedly to
scuttle the “evil design” of a section of Bangladeshis to divide India. AASU
adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya has been quoted as saying that the failure of the
state and Central governments to check the “demographic invasion” from Bangladesh
has led to such “outrageous proposals” by a section of people in that country. He
said Dhaka had a long-term plan to include Assam in its fold in view of the
state's rich natural resources. The AGP government in the state has drawn flak
from organisations such as the AASU for having failed in the key task of stopping
illegal migration and detecting and expelling those who have already entered the
state illegally from across the border.

The very origin of the AGP in 1985 came about with the promise to free the state
of the illegal Bangladeshi migrants from across the porous border. According to
the Assam government's own admission, only 219 persons have been declared as
illegal migrants during the period January 1, 2000 to November 30, 2000. Of these,
expulsion orders were served on 111 persons and only 11 were actually expelled.
The AGP-led government in the state had, of late, been pressing New Delhi to seal
the border with Bangladesh. Dr Jayasree Mahanta in her letter to Advani has
reiterated the demand to fence the Assam Bangladesh border to stop the illegal
influx.