Greater Bangladesh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Greater Bangladesh (translated variously as Bengali : বৃহত্তর বাংলাদেশ , Brihat Bangladesh ; Bengali : বৃহৎ বাংলাদেশ Brihad Bangladesh ; Bengali : মহাবাংলাদেশ , Maha Bangladesh ; and Bengali : বিশাল বাংলা , Bishal Bangla ) is a political theory circulated by a number of Indian politicians and writers that People's Republic of
Bangladesh is trying for the territorial expansion to include the Indian states of West Bengal , Assam and others in northeastern India. The theory is principally based on fact that a large number of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants reside in Indian territory.
At the turn of the 21st century, Indian political circles started to take a serious look at Bangladeshi illegal immigrants infiltrating into India. [ 5 ] Bangladesh is under pressure from India as a source of rebellion in Indian North-East for this Indian perception. [ 17 ] It is also hard pressed to convince India that encouraging migration is not a state policy ofBangladesh. [ 17 ] The state of Bangladesh denied the existence of these immigrants while stripping them of their Bangladeshi citizenship. [ 5 ] According to Jyoti M. Pathaniaof South Asia Analysis Group the reasons for Bangladeshi immigration to India are: basic need theory i.e. food, shelter and clothing, economic dictates i.e. employment opportunity, better wages and comparatively better living conditions, demographic disproportion especially for minorities (Hindus) in this densely populated country having roughly a density of 780 per km 2 as against half that number on Indian side of the border, and being cheap labor the Bangladeshis find easy acceptance as domestic helps in Indian homes, which keeps proliferating by ever increasing demand for domestic helps. [ 18 ] The Centre for Women and Children Studies estimated in 1998 that 27,000 Bangladeshis have been forced into prostitution in India. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]
[ edit ] Lebensraum theory
Achieving a "Greater Bangladesh" as Lebensraum (additional living space) is alleged to be the reason for large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh into India's northeastern states. [ 6 ] Similarly it is alleged that illegal immigration is actively encouragedby some political groups in Bangladesh as well as the state of Bangladesh to convert large parts of India's northeastern states andWest Bengal into Muslim-majority areas that would subsequently seek to separate from India and join Muslim-majority Bangladesh. [ 6 ] One Indian proposition is that the state of Bangladesh is pursuing a territorial design seeking a Lebensraum for its teeming population and trying to establish a Greater Bangladesh. [ 5 ] Another proposition called for capturing one or two districts in Bangladesh and sending illegal immigrants there. [ 5 ] [ 21 ] Yet another proposition called for killing off Bangladeshi immigrants in India to thwart the designs of state of Bangladesh. [ 22 ]
It is suspected, though, that the figures of Bangladeshi migrants in India are to far-fetched to be accorded any credence. [ 17 ] The diplomatic difficulty is increased by the failure of India to comprehend that supporting Indian rebels in a plot to carve out a Greater Bangladesh would bring very little strategic dividend to Bangladesh. [ 17 ] Scholars have also reflected that under the guise of anti-Bangladeshi immigrant movement it is actually an anti-Muslim agenda pointed towards Bangladeshi Muslims by false propaganda and widely exaggerated claims on immigrant population. [ 23 ] There also is an alleged parallel threat ofturning Assam into a part of a Greater West Bengal. [ 24 ] In 1950s, Atulya Ghosh , a leaderof the Congress, had called to form a Greater West Bengal by annexing territory of neighboring Bihar
In a 1998, Lieutenant General S.K. Sinha , then the Governor of Assam and later the Governorof Jammu and Kashmir , wrote a report to K.R.Narayanan , then the President of India claiming that massive illegal immigration from Bangladesh was directly linked with"the long-cherished design of Greater Bangladesh," and also quoted pre-1971 comments from late Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and late President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman endorsing the inclusion of Assam into East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). [ 6 ] [ 39 ] Anxiety and popular anger over illegal immigration prompted political unrest in the state of Assam, and criticism has increased over the Indian government's failure to secure its borders with Bangladesh and stop the illegal immigration.
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