New Delhi: After Myanmar Army launched a crackdown against Rohingya Muslims, hundreds of Hindus also fled to Bangladesh. Now, these Hindu refugees of Myanmar are hoping for shelter in India.
According to the news published in Hindustan Times, nearly 500 Hindu refugees are taking shelter in a cleared-out chicken farm in southeast Bangladesh, few miles away from camps where 421,000 Rohingya Muslims are living.
Hindu refugees don’t want to go back to Buddhist-majority Myanmar as they are scared and even don’t want to stay in Bangladesh. One of the refugees, Niranjan Rudra said that India is also known as Hindustan which means land of the Hindus. He further said, “We just want a peaceful life in India. We may not get that in Myanmar or here”.
To support his claim, Refugee Rudra showed his temporary citizenship card which was issued in 1978 which listed his race as “Indian” and religion as “Hindu”.
Refugees from Myanmar said that both army and Buddhist vigilantes aimed at driving out Muslims from Rakhine State.
Meanwhile, Indian Government refused to comment on this issue. However, a government source said that Govt. is waiting for Supreme Court hearing on the plea challenging Home Ministry’s plan to deport 40,000 Rohingya Muslims.
Speaking on the issue, Achintya Biswas, a senior member of VHP said that India is a destination for Hindu refugees. He also said that VHP and RSS would submit a report on refuges to Home Ministry and demand Govt. to allow refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh to enter India.
It may be mentioned that since Modi led Government took office in 2014, orders have been issued which instructs not to consider Hindus or members of any other minorities from Pakistan or Bangladesh as an illegal immigrant.
Talking to media men, last month, Mr. Kiren Rijiju said that only those who are coming due to religious persecution in Bangladesh and Pakistan are regularized. However, he said that there is no policy for refugees from Myanmar.