India Should Embrace Its Lost Children
Each
major historic event in India left a number of Indians displaced and lost to
History. The first waves of such lost children of India begins in the tenth
century with the beginning of Muslims raids into India under Mohammad Ghori and
Ghazni and only continue under British rule until the 20th century.
A thousand years of displacements and disenfranchisement left millions of
Indians across the globe. It is time for India to recognize and grant its lost
children some type of overseas citizenship.
Caribbean and African Diaspora Hindus of
the 19th and 20th Centuries
British
colonial government permitted numerous colonial enterprises to use exploitative
recruitment tactics to lure young men and women seeking work. They transported
them long distances across the oceans. Such workers were called indentured
laborers and were only provided minimal facilities. Wherever it is possible the
British companies or landlords posted the newly arrived indentured laborers at
barracks only then evacuated by the slaves on numerous plantations across the
world from Eastern African countries and South Africa to the West Indies. The
story is not much different from Fiji to Guyana. It is the same exploitation.
The indentured have no way of connecting with their families back in India, nor
did they have facilities to practice their religion or culture. Most of them
lost touch with their families and the place of their origin. They did not even
know that India achieved independence or that they had any opportunity to
return to India. They are the lost children of British colonial India. Colonial
governments forgot about them, while India had no accounts of their situation
and issues.
Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh
People were
not given an opportunity to choose where they may live. British colonial regime
divided the country without conducting a ground survey. India is divided into
two countries by drawing a line on the map, without conducting ground survey,
which divided the country arbitrarily overnight. In Some places the border went
through houses, and sometimes through land belonging to a farmer, putting half of
his land on one side and the other half of his land on another side. In a
complete disregard for the lives of the common people British regime did not
provide security forces on the borders leading to chaos and murder spree, which
was equal to perpetrating genocide on the part of Britain. Numerous people
found themselves stranded in the country they did not seek to live. Whatever
Pakistan might say it is the responsibility of India to provide an opportunity
for its Hindus to return to their homeland. Pakistan was created for Muslims to
give a separate nation for Muslims. If Indian Muslims desire to go to Pakistan
they must be free to do so also. Pakistan
must accept Indian Muslims freely.
Bangladesh
(East Pakistan) is another case. Bangladesh is ethnically uniform even though
it is a Muslim majority country. Bangladeshi Muslims also spoke Bengali
(although they call it Bangla), practiced syncretic style of Islam and had
nothing in common with West Pakistan. However, that does not mean that Hindus
are treated any better in Bangladesh than Pakistan. Hindu population is
mistreated and declined gradually since 1950 (28%), currently at about 8%
according to the 2011 census. Being ethnically and linguistically homogeneous
has not prevented ethnic cleansing and mass killings of Hindus in Bangladesh.
It is
heartening to note that India is considering steps to allow relocation the
mistreated minority groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh to resettle in India. Similar
facilities must be extended to Hindu diaspora across the world.
Hindus in Malaysia and other Southeast
Asian Countries
Hindus
entered and flourished in Southeast Asia since 3rd century C.E.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines derive their early
empirical foundations from India and its early Hindu and Buddhist groups
arrived from India. More Hindus brought since the 16th century by successive
states of India join these ancient Hindus. British colonial regime brought more
Hindus to work in plantations across Southeast Asia. However, the current
status of Hindus in these countries is precarious. Although native to
Indonesia, indigenous Hinduism is not allowed to be practiced in Indonesia,
while Malaysia treats Hindus as unwanted citizens. India should recognize the
diaspora and grant overseas citizenship to all the Hindus of Southeast Asia.
Roma across European and Eurasian countries
Another
forgotten long lost diaspora of India is the Roma living across Europe and
Eurasia. Roma were forcefully removed and taken away from Indian regions
conquered by the Muslim raids from 10th century onwards for fear of
rebellions in their conquered territories. Roma are the first diaspora of
India. Hence, India should embrace this group of people immediately. Roma
across Europe and Eurasia suffered discrimination lasting over a thousand
years. Recent removal and resettlement of Roma in Ukraine (An event similar to
the Babyn Yar Tragedy of WWII) drew
criticism from Israel and Holocaust Museum of USA
(http://www.jta.org/2016/08/31/news-opinion/world/u-s-holocaust-museum-condemns-attack-on-ukrainian-roma),
but no statement from India, which shows missing place of Roma from the
national conscious of India.
Being
treated as refugees in lands where they settled for close to a thousand years
haunts the Roma across Europe and the Eurasian region. Roma are largely missing
from public debates on human rights violations. Numerous Roma across Europe
were discriminated and killed during the Second World War alongside Jews, but
Roma massacres did not draw any attention from international community. Initiatives
to create and bring awareness to Roma issues in Europe are helping raise
awareness in the recent years (http://www.errc.org/about-us-overview).
India
could be forgiven for its lack of empathy towards its diaspora in the past
since it was also under colonial rule lasting for a thousand years until 1947.
However, as India enters a new phase of development and place of strategic
importance in the international sphere, attention should be paid to its lost
children. India must support and embrace its lost children from across the
globe.
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