Title: Fresh Bangladeshi influx alarms Govt
Author: Chandan Nandy
Publication:  The Hindustan Times
Date: Oct 28, 2001
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/281001/detNAT06.asp

A fresh influx of Bangladeshi nationals into some Indian border states after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance captured power in Dhaka recently has set alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power here. West Bengal and Tripura have taken the brunt of illegal immigration. A Home Ministry document attributes the recent inflow to ''either political vendetta against Awami League supporters or BNP's targeting of Hindus''.

When contacted, Union Home Minister L K Advani said, ''The Prime Minister is extremely concerned about the developments in Bangladesh and it is with this view that he has sent his National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra to Dhaka.''

According to the MHA note, Hindu women are particularly unsafe. ''It appears that they have migrated in large numbers. So far, 370 persons have entered Tripura and 250 West Bengal, though the ''actual influx'' is expected to be much higher than that officially reported so far. The migrants have taken shelter with their relatives already settled in the two states.

The document says that extortion, assault, rape and desecration of Hindu temples, which increased following the BNP's victory in the general elections, prompted this influx.

In the North Bengal sector, illegal immigration into South Dinajpur, Malda and Cooch Behar districts was reported first on October 14. About 50 families (223 members), mostly Hindus, ente-red the three districts in groups. A study shows that as many as 535 persons (404 Hindus, 113 Muslims) sneaked in through the Hil-li checkpost in South Dinajpur.

The documents say only seven families comprising 21 members, and two families are reported to have entered through Bangaon in North 24 Parganas and Murshidabad districts respectively. But intelligence officials in Calcutta, the note says, believe that the actual migration in the South Bengal sector would be at least ''five-fold''. The same officials have reported that ''Hindu upper middle-class families have shifted about 3,000-4,000 of their female family members with relatives in India''.

However, in Tripura the influx began on October 6 following the defeat of Zainul Hazari, the Awami League contestant from Feni-II constituency in Bangladesh. The document reveals that Hazari along with Kamal Majumdar, chairman of the Fulgazi Union in Feni district, and about 150 other League supporters and workers, including Hindus and Muslims, entered Bari village in Belonia sub-division of South Tripura district.