DNA Edit: On the Rohingya crisis, India must tread a fine line

The refugee crisis is an intractable problem of our time, and no matter how urgent our need of a quick solution is, there are no easy answers to this complex quandary. Even as the Centre argues before the Supreme Court that the influx of Rohingya Muslims in India will only build up to a larger security threat in the future, the enormity of violence being inflicted on them in Myanmar is a fact that only the most of most heartless of us would be able to deny.

What’s more, deporting Rohingya Muslims who have settled in different states of India in makeshift camps will be a stark departure from our 70-year-old policy under which we have welcomed refugees irrespective of their religious status from neighbouring countries. Has India not thrown its doors open to Muslims fleeing from Afghanistan or to Buddhists from Tibet seeking refuge from an aggrandising China or to the millions of tribals looking for a safe haven from the East Pakistan army’s inhuman hostilities in 1971? Time and again, India has had the great honour of being a home to those who were wrongly and forcefully deprived of one.

However, this has not been without its attendant costs. Even as politicians from the Congress and the Left deride the government for its stand on the crisis, can the two camps, in all honesty, deny their instinct of political opportunism in mining the refugee crisis for electoral benefits? Do they not recall the time when they permitted an unfettered influx of refugees from Bangladesh, consequently engineering a communal divide in Assam? Even, economically it is undesirable to burden one or many state governments with the new batch of immigrants. For decades, India’s administration has been waging a botched war against population rise. By willingly letting in more immigrants, the government will allow for more pressure to be piled on existing jobs and force whatever limited resources we have to be split into even smaller bits.

Even if it is with a heavy heart, the Indian government must stick to its guns and prevent, as much as possible, the crossing over of Rohingya into India. Despite our best efforts, many Rohingya Muslims will make it to the Indian territory. In such a situation, a thorough background vetting should be carried out to ensure that the refugees being rehabilitated in India do not exhibit any signs of radicalisation or susceptibility to the terror narrative. A detailed policy should be released immediately eliminating all possibilities of abuse of discretion so deeply inherent in this process. Lastly, a plan should be put in place to provide fruitful employment and ensure smooth social integration. At least, till they are able return to the country that they can’t call home now.