SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Radharao F Gracias
Not many, may dispute that in the last ten years of BJP rule, large scale development of infrastructure has taken place. It can be seen everywhere. But, what can one say about human development? Is there anything to be seen anywhere? Is it not time after ten years of BJP rule to find out? So I ventured to scroll through the news and share my findings.
The Hindu, December 3, 2023:
......“A question that was raised in the Rajya Sabha a few days ago has put the spotlight on the issue of Indians illegally entering the United States. In his reply to a question, the Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, quoted data from the US Customs and Border Protection and said that US officials encountered close to 1 lakh illegal Indian migrants just this year. This trend of thousands of Indians trying to enter the US illegally is new; it has been seen in the last four years......”
...... “A decade ago, a little over 1,500 Indian illegal migrants were stopped by the US border authorities. The number increased marginally in the following years but remained below the 10,000 mark till 2019. But since 2020, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of Indians trying to cross the border illegally with the figure touching 96,917 in 2023.”
News 18, Dec 23 2023:
“Indian citizens detained in France after a Nicaragua-bound flight carrying 303 people, mostly Indians, was detained by French authorities over suspected human trafficking are safe and in judicial custody,” sources in the Ministry of External Affairs told News18. The plane that took off from the United Arab Emirates was grounded during “a technical halt” at an airport near Paris on Thursday.
News18 was the first to report that the flight had been held over amid suspicion of human trafficking to the United States via Nicaragua. Majority of those detained are from Gujarat and Punjab, sources said, adding that a “detailed report has been sent to the Indian government”.
Le Monde, Paris, December 31, 2023:
“The case is now proceeding in India. After spending five days stuck at Vatry airport (in the eastern Marne region of France) on suspicion of illegal immigration, the Indian passengers on the Legend Airlines flight have begun to be interrogated by local police in the various States from which they originate, mainly Gujarat and Punjab.” The A340 belonging to the small Romanian airline, which carried some 300 Indians on board, was grounded on December 21 by the French authorities. The aircraft was initially scheduled to make only a technical stop to refuel on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua. It was eventually sent back to Bombay, where it landed on Tuesday, December 26. Twenty-five passengers, including five minors, remained in France, where they applied for asylum.
According to initial information released by the Gujarat police, the passengers stranded in Paris were planning to travel to Mexico via Nicaragua, before crossing the border illegally into the United States. They reportedly paid smugglers sums ranging from €43,500 to €130,500. These illegal immigration routes are well known in India, where they are called 'donkey routes', from the Punjabi term dunki, meaning “to go from one place to another.
Now these are official answers from the government; the question is why are more Indians running away from Bharat Mata, even as Hindutva gains strength under Modi? And why are they mostly from Gujarat, Modi’s home State? Why are they seeking ache din in the USA?
Now let us look at Uttar Pradesh the heartland of Hindutva experimentation helmed by the BJP poster boy Yogi Adityanath.
Times of India, March
24, 2023:
“AGRA: More than 1.9 lakh cases of crime against dalits were registered in four years from 2018, the Centre told Parliament earlier this week, citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. As many as 49,613 cases of atrocities and attacks on dalits were registered in Uttar Pradesh (11,924 in 2018, 11,829 in 2019, 12,714 in 2020, and 13,146 in 2021). States and UTs such as Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Andamans reported; zero cases since 2018.”
Union MoS for Home, Ajay Kumar Mishra, shared the data on Tuesday in response to a query by BSP MP Girish Chandra, who asked: “If there was any mechanism to monitor such incidents.” A total of 1,89,945 cases of crime against the community were registered in four years (42,793 in 2018, 45,961 in 2019, 50,291 in 2020 and 50,900 in 2021) in the country. Chargesheet was filed in 1, 50,454 of them with 27,754 convictions. In UP, charge sheet was filed in 41,684 out of 49,613 cases, with 15,455 convictions.
......The NCRB report also pointed that there has been a 1.2% increase in crime against SCs in 2021, as compared to 2020. Atrocities against Scheduled Tribes (ST) have also increased by 6.4% in 2021. Moreover, 70,818 cases of atrocities against dalits await investigation (figure till 2021-end), and 12,159 against STs. UP-based social activist, Naresh Paras, said on Thursday, “Data presented in Parliament is based on the FIRs registered. Ground reality is worse. Crime against dalits is on the rise. Government needs to study the matter in detail by involving activists, public representatives and civil society.” “This community is not only the victim of the caste system but also faces institutional discrimination and social exclusion,” he added.
How can one explain the attacks on the most oppressed and poor Dalit Hindus under a double Engine Hindutva government? Is it not that the double engines (with their double number of wheels!) are crushing the historically oppressed Dalit Hindus, even more ruthlessly?
(Radharao F Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate, a former Independent MLA, a political activist, with a reputation for oratory and interests in history and ornithology)
