A common factor which bedevilled all three parts of the subcontinent in varying proportions was the treatment of minorities. While the issue of minorities between West Pakistan and India (mainly East Punjab) was settled within three or four months through a balance of unofficial terror, massacres, forced expulsion of the minorities and finally exchange of population, the Bengal sector suffered a slow bloodletting over the coming half a century. And it was largely a one-way exodus of Hindus from East Pakistan, later Bangladesh, to West Bengal and other adjoining parts of India.

Hindu population which constituted a 28 per cent minority in East Pakistan area in 1947 (based on the 1941 census during the British Raj) has been reduced to less than a third (9.2 per cent) as per the 2001 census of Bangladesh without any appreciable two-way exchange of population, official or unofficial. It was an overwhelming one-way flow from East Pakistan to India. In the reverse direction the Muslim population of West Bengal which stood at about 20 per cent has risen to 27 per cent by 2001, besides registering a rise of varying proportions in north-eastern states of India and metropolitan cities across the country.

The demographic change caused by illegal migration from Bangladesh, before and after the 1971 liberation from Pakistan, has undoubtedly caused huge problems with Indian states at the receiving end. Varying estimates put the number of such migrants at about 11million at the lower end to the lurid figure of 22 million by some of the Hindutva parivar groups. It is conveniently forgotten that more than half of the immigrants are Hindus for whom there is plenty of sympathy. For Muslims there is only anger and occasionally violent antipathy. The consequences for them have been horrifying — from the 1983 Nellie massacre to the continuing fear of daily harassment by police and other authorities despite protection by some of the politicians who use them as their vote banks.

There are no quick fixes to manage this migration problem which must be recognised as a human problem and dealt with humanely. In a constantly changing world we are all migrants. Our ancestors came from some place to settle somewhere else, maybe from the next country, next state or next village. Ninety nine point nine (99.9) per cent migrants everywhere are economic refugees even if that definition may be disputed by legal experts and jurists.

The United States of America is one of the biggest recipients of economic refugees from all parts of the world, especially from Mexico and other Latin American countries. It has fenced hundreds of miles of its southern border and erected watch towers to keep off the hungry hordes from the South. Yet they keep coming to earn a tolerable living, suffering exploitation for years before getting some respite. Every ten years or so the U.S. absorbs the 'illegals' by declaring an amnesty and the refugees, legal and illegal, gradually become the loyal citizens of their adopted country. Even in the interim period they are not hounded out or harassed unless the odd few individuals indulge in some criminal activity. When caught they are treated like other home grown deviants.   
     
India too needs to take a larger and generous view of the very human problem of migrants from Bangladesh. Dubbing every migrant a criminal in a fit of anger is an easy option, which is the politician's first weapon. India may not be as rich or geographically as big as the U.S., but for the Bangladeshi migrants it is a magnet of prosperity. We all move from village to village or city to city. Our diaspora abroad, of which we are so proud, are also migrants in different countries. A generous vision of our neighbourhood won't render India much poorer. An American-style one-off amnesty for Bangladeshi migrants won't make things any worse. Let's be real. Those who are already here cannot be wished away. Instead of criminalising them, India should set them free — free to move from demographically disturbed Assam, Nagaland, Tripura or West Bengal to pastures new. Once set free from fear of detection, detention and even the humiliating need to change religious identity for a pitiful existence, they would move to less pressurised parts of India, and like the Mexicans of America, become normal, even proud, citizens of the adopted land that is Bharat.

A fanciful vision? Not if some people were to stop wearing their darkening glasses.

A new government has come to power in Dhaka after the December elections and it is time for a new start in Indo-Bangladesh relations. The high hopes of Mujibur Rahman-Indira Gandhi pact were dashed because of the cruel turn of bloody events that ended with the martyrdom of Mujib in 1975. The recent Awami League's landslide victory under Sheikh Hasina, Banga Bandhu's daughter, is a Second Coming not just for her but also for the ideas for which the Banga Bandhu lived and died. Hasina, who has just become prime minister for the second time after a gap of eight years, needs time to settle down in her new job.

The sweep of Hasina's electoral victory has been truly grand. Her Grand Alliance of Awami League, Jatiya Party of Colonel Ershad and others has won 230 seats out of the 300 seats in the National Parliament, leaving former premier Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party alliance with just 30 seats. A striking side result of this election has been the rout of BNP's partner Jamat-e-Islami party which barely scraped through with just two seats compared with 19 in the previous parliament.

Yet Hasina needs all the cooperation of her people at home and friends outside.

India should not be found wanting at this delicate juncture. Perhaps the biggest gesture that India can make is to defuse the tension over migration, the biggest irritant between the two nations. The way to make progress in that direction is not to indulge in anti-immigrant rhetoric into which India's new Home Minister, P Chidambaram, was led by a television interviewer recently. It was regrettable that instead of keeping his cool he allowed himself to be provoked into a tirade against migration as if it was a new problem requiring some immediate tough talk.

The new Hasina administration has already pledged to root out elements using Bangladesh territory for actions against India. Most irritants can be resolved through negotiations. Talks should be restarted on the unnecessarily vexatious issue of scores of reverse territorial enclaves, a legacy of the 1947 partition and a continuing source of border flare-ups. Not just the removal of irritants, cooperation in trade and development areas should be taken up with renewed vigour.

Indo-Bangladesh relations have been looking good for quite some time now and much more needs to be done. The Moitree Express (Friendship Express) train launched last year in April saw the revival of train service between Dhaka and Kolkata after a gap of 43 long years since the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war. Carrying about 400 passengers each way and covering a distance of 538 km in about 14 hours, the weekly train has proved quite a success. Goods trains between the two countries had been revived in 2001 after a gap of 35 years.

The outgoing caretaker military- backed government had launched a process of engagement with India, exploring the possibility of cooperation in defence and other spheres. The Bangladesh Army Chief, General Moeen U. Ahmed, paid a week-long visit to India last year when he visited some of the Indian military establishments and discussed possible training facilities for Bangladesh Navy and Air Force personnel in India. Joint exercises were also mooted.

In a symbolic gesture, the first of its kind since the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the visiting general presented a replica of war medal of the Bangladesh Armed Forces to the Indian Army Chief, General Dipak Kapoor. Recalling 1971 cooperation, General Moeen said the relations between India and Bangladesh were founded in the battlefield.

In another gesture the Bangladesh Army had invited 10 Indian Army veterans of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to a commemorative ceremony. The Indian veterans were led by General J.F.R. Jacob. It was a 'reunion' of comrades in arms, said General Jacob who recalled with nostalgia the memories of battles they fought together. The Indian team was invited to the Independence and National Day celebrations in Dhaka, a first since 1971, marking a renewal of warm relations and an end of the long cold spell.

Carrying the momentum forward, Bangladesh has announced that it was planning to hold joint army exercises with Indian troops, the first since 1971, in February-March this year.

To the optimists such news comes as no surprise at all — the national anthems of both countries, Amar Sonar Bangla and Jana Gana Mana, are written by the same poet, Rabindranath Tagore!

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