Intended Illegal Infiltration or Compelled Migration: Debates on Settlements of Rohingya Muslims in India

Abstract

Settlement of Rohingya migrants in some parts of India has triggered schism and polarization in the Indian politics. While most of the political parties opposed to the BJP and Muslim social and cultural organizations supported the settlement of the migrants and asked the government to consider their case from humanitarian perspectives, the BJP party and other rightwing social and cultural organizations called upon the people to stage protests against it. The government at the center also opposed their settlements and publicly declared to identify and send them back to their country. From places of settlements to religion of the migrants became the subjects of debate. This paper critically examines why the settlements of Rohingya migrants evoked so much protests and noise at national level? Secondly, were the locations of settlements a well-considered choice of the migrants or they were taken to these destinations by people this side of the border? These questions became pertinent because instead of settling in the North East provinces of India they traveled deep far into the Indian territory, comprising extreme North in Kashmir to Southern city of Hyderabad. It analyzes why Hindus were so much agitated on the issue and what it meant for the Muslims who came forward to support the settlements of Rohingyas in India.