Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September, 4, 06
After the periodic mauling of Border Security
Force jawans at the hands of Bangladesh Rifles personnel - even as India's
political Centre mutely watches the depredations - is it surprising that illegal
Bangladeshi immigrants hammered the daylights out of Delhi Police constables
Friday last? The incident occurred in the heart of the Capital, in Jangpura's
Sunlight colony under the Nizamuddin Police Station, whereby a gang of Bangladeshis
overpowered a police team, snatched their service weapons, held them hostage
and fired a few rounds injuring at least three constables. The policemen had
gone to the settlement colony in search of an accused in a case of murder
and were fortunate to escape without greater damage to their persons. However,
the harm caused to the image of the Delhi Police as a result of the sheer
audacity of the illegal immigrants would certainly be incalculable. In fact,
the assault on the law-enforcers holds ominous portents. While this paper
has been at the forefront of the campaign against the growing clout of the
Bangladeshis - and this is so not merely in Delhi; they are a threat to law
and order in other cities like Mumbai and Kolkata as well - it is clear that
the repeated warnings sounded out to the powers-that-be have fallen on deaf
ears. If authority had acted with iron hand earlier by cracking down on the
illegal settlers, they wouldn't have got so emboldened as to not only indulge
in criminal activities of all sorts but also reveal, as their latest act of
shocking intransigence shows, their deep-seated contempt for the Indian legal
system and one of its executive arms, the police, which functions under the
Union Ministry of Home Affairs. While it may beg the question how comes it
that they are so derisory of the law of the land, the answer should once again
come as no surprise: They were allowed to fraudulently settle in large swathes
under successive Congress regimes over several years, and given ration cards
and voter I-cards to nurture their 'Indian' identity. If they have felt coddled
and pampered by Congress politicians as vote-banks in the past, what cause
can they possibly have to fear Indian law?
The Government, and the Home Ministry in particular, must see the attack on
Delhi Police as a warning of the shape of things to come. It is still not
too late to begin the exercise of identifying and deporting alien Bangladeshis
who, while enjoying the fruit of Indian society, are spitting on their hosts
with impudence. With 15 to 20 million Bangladeshis living extra-legally in
India, we need not fear an invasion. They are already here and, as the incident
in the national capital prove, will stop at nothing in order to consolidate
their felonious presence. The first step to counter this growing internal
threat would be to arrest and severely punish the Bangladeshis who assaulted
Delhi Police personnel. Question is whether even this much will prove tall
order for the utterly effete Central Government.