Image: Twitter
On Tuesday, April 19, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath handed out letters of allotment of land to as many as 63 families of Bengali Hindu refugees who came to India after fleeing erstwhile East Pakistan around the time of the Bangladesh war.
The families have been allotted plots of agricultural and residential land on lease. Tweeting about the decision, CM Adityanath said, “The decades long wait has ended for 63 Hindu Bengali families who came to India from erstwhile East Pakistan in 1970.” He said that each family would be allotted 2 acres for farming and 200 sq meters land for housing. The houses will also have toilets built under the CM Awaas Yojana. Without actually naming the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he praised the Prime Minister for his leadership in passing that act that enables rehabilitation of Hindu refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
वर्ष 1970 में तत्कालीन पूर्वी पाकिस्तान से विस्थापित 63 हिंदू बंगाली परिवारों की दशकों की प्रतीक्षा आज समाप्त हो गई।
उनके पुनर्वासन हेतु आज उन्हें कृषि भूमि व आवासीय पट्टा तथा मुख्यमंत्री आवास योजना के स्वीकृति-पत्र वितरित किए गए हैं।
सभी का हृदय से अभिनंदन! pic.twitter.com/ROa7M34CTj
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 19, 2022
.@UPGovt द्वारा कानपुर देहात के रसूलाबाद में विस्थापित सभी 63 हिंदू परिवारों के पुनर्वासन की व्यवस्था की गई है।
प्रत्येक परिवार को कृषि हेतु 02 एकड़ व आवास हेतु 200 वर्ग मीटर भूमि और मुख्यमंत्री आवास योजना के तहत एक-एक आवास व शौचालय से आच्छादित किया जा रहा है।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 19, 2022
आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री जी के नेतृत्व में पाकिस्तान, बांग्लादेश व अफगानिस्तान से आए हुए अल्पसंख्यक समुदाय के लोगों को भारत में नागरिकता देने और उनके पुनर्वासन हेतु एक्ट पास किया गया, उसी का सुफल है कि @UPGovt समयबद्ध ढंग से हिंदू परिवारों के पुनर्वासन की कार्यवाही को आगे बढ़ा रही है।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 19, 2022
Originally there were 65 refugee families, out of a total of 407 who came to India, whose rehabilitation had been pending. 63 are still present and it is they who will be rehabilitated in Rasulabad in Kanpur Dehat district. The CM has also instructed the local administration to build facilities such as schools, hospitals and community centres for the rehabilitated families in the region.
This is far cry from how Bengali speaking Muslims are being treated across India. For instance, when the community’s members were dragged into a communal maelstrom after a Shobha Yatra on Hanuman Jayanti in Jahangirpuri in New Delhi recently, political leaders were quick to label them as Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, blaming them squarely for attacking the Hindutva procession and disturbing peace. In fact, a demolition drive was initiated against their homes by the municipal corporation and even though the Supreme Court had passed an order to maintain status quo, the drive continued in defiance of the order! The Mayor had the audacity to ask for the order to be delivered to him before demolitions could be stopped!
In Assam, Bengali speaking Muslims who had migrated from flood-prone riverine regions of the state to Dhalpur, were all summarily dubbed “outsiders” and “encroachers”. The Himanta Biswa Sarma led government has been carrying out demolition drives in the region to evict these families and hand over land to indigenous community youth for carrying out farming and fishing, apart from building gaushalas. In fact, it was during one such drive in Gorukhuti village in Sipajhar Circle of the Dhapur region of Darrang district that police personnel opened fire on families protesting the eviction and demolition drive. 28-year-old daily wage labourer Mainul Haque and 12-year-old Farid Sheikh were killed in the firing while many others sustained bullet wounds to their head, face, chest and stomach. This clearly shows that the police force deployed to maintain law and order during the eviction drive did not follow protocol that demands that not only should firing be the last resort, it should only be below the knee.
Related:
Brinda Karat stands tall in front of bulldozers at Jahangirpuri’s Tiananmen square moment
SC orders status quo on demolitions in Jahangirpuri
Assam Police Firing: 12-year-old shot dead while returning home from Aadhaar centre!