I was an Indian, I am an Indian, and I will continue to be an Indian

Evasive citizenship: An unachieved dream of erstwhile enclave dwellers

by Subha Protim Roy Chowdhury

“Only in the eyes of the law we are Indians,” with these words the position of tens of thousands of people living beyond the reach of state and nation in dozens of enclaves between India and Bangladesh was sketched. It was a common remark by the enclave residents before 2015.^[1]

Approximately thirteen years ago, during my first visit to Indian enclave, Dasierchara in Bangladesh, I engaged in conversations with numerous individuals, including Khaliluddin. Veteran Khaliluddin was a resident of 'Chitmahal' Dasierchara of Phulbari police station in Kurigram district of Bangladesh. Khaliluddin, together with Nazrul Islam and Bishnu Barman, expressed their views on the corridor connecting their enclave to mainland India. They were strong loyalists of India, opposing the incorporation of the Dasierchara enclave into Bangladesh.^[2] 

In 2002, we spent approximately 28 days in the northern region of Bangladesh, specifically in the Rangpur Division for a field study. When inquiring about their political future, specifically regarding the potential annexation with either Bangladesh or India, it is noteworthy that, despite the critical and multi-dimensional nature of the issue, the majority of the population was inclined to become part of India. The Bangladeshi enclaves situated in India exhibit a unanimous desire to merge with the Indian territory that encircles their land. It is evident that there is no contention regarding this matter. However, the situation differs significantly for their Indian counterparts residing in Bangladesh. We conducted a survey of 18 enclaves located in the districts of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, and Panchgarh within the Rangpur Division. In India, we surveyed 3 enclaves, all of which are situated in the Cooch Behar District. Herein, we present a summary of the survey tabulations. It is also important to note that the findings reveal that more than 50% of the 18 enclaves in Bangladesh express a desire to integrate their land with mainland India. That field study was experimental, as easement was orthogonal to resident’s attitudes; for robustness, we evaluated our findings in relation to colonial partition. Residents of enclaves were the direct victims of partition of India, 1947. Though a majority population were Muslim, they opted India on exchange of enclave issue. But what did they actually get after their choice for democratic, multicultural and vast India in 2015, when enclaves and exclaves were exchanged?

"That is India, our motherland", Indian enclave dweelers of Dasiyerchara during a survey in the year 2014.

The inhabitants of the Indian Chitmahal, originating from Bangladesh, were initially housed in the temporary camp located at Dinhata Agricultural Bazar. They were also kept in Mekhliganj and Haldibari. In Dinhata, it is important to highlight that later each family was allocated a flat in the newly constructed residential apartment of Dinhata-1 Panchayat. We have been informed that the Haryana police apprehended 7 individuals of Dinhata enclave settlement apartment on the grounds of suspicion of being Bangladeshi. At the Enclave Settlement Camp located in Dinhata, we engaged in discussions with both workers and labour contractors employed at a brick kiln in Bahadurgarh, Haryana. Rabiul Haque, along with his wife Rasida Begum, their two young sons, and a daughter, was detained on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. "I've been working there for about 2 years, and this has never happened," said Rabiul. Labour contractor Shamsul Haque was sitting next to me. I have been working as a labor transporter for about 9 years, he added. Shamsul Haque emphasised, "I started this work when I arrived from the opposite side, means Indian enclave. I took eight workers from here this time. There were workers from the nearby villages as well as from the erstwhile enclave population.

"At 4 pm that afternoon (probably at first week of July), a team from the Delhi Police arrived and instructed us to present ourselves at the Shalimar Bagh police station in Delhi along with the necessary documents. When we asked politely about the necessity of enquiry, they responded quite sternly, "We will determine if you are indeed Bangladeshi." What should I do? I went to the police station the next day with a rented car for Rs. 3,000. I showed my voter card and Aadhaar card, they saw it and took my mobile phone. Two days went by.  The police inquired about any additional documents we possessed. We presented them with the residential certificate, and the officers were taken aback when I revealed this. "What is this?" We began discussing our life in the enclave, feeling quite surprised. We stated that we were Indians, situated far from the mainland, within Bangladesh. I was Indian, I am Indian, and I will continue to be Indian. Currently, I am on the mainland. Do you comprehend this? We are present today due to the international agreement established between both Prime minister Modi and Hasina. I am uncertain about their intentions! We were then released. They assured us that there would be no further issues. Indeed, there were no additional problems. However, the anxiety lingered in our thoughts. Those of us who travel to different states as migrated workers are apprehensive due to such occurrences."

When inquired about the number of individuals present at the police station, Rabiul responded, "It must have been approximately three hundred." "Are you aware that there were a significant number of Bangladeshis present?" Rabiul remarked that he knew. When asked, he said, "We were there for about 7 days, those who were Bangladeshi themselves were saying, ‘send us back to our country, we will leave’."

We talked with Khaliluddin's cousin, Md. Saheb Ali. Saheb Ali has not travelled to Haryana in the past two years, and he is also concerned about the current turmoil faced by the erstwhile enclave-residents. "We don't know what citizenship is," he stated. "We lack understanding of its appearance or its auditory characteristics. However, upon our arrival here, we participated in voting for the very first time in our lives. Residing in the enclave, we were unaware of the voting procedure. By casting that vote, either the government or the opposition party is chosen. So how can we become non-citizens? During the 7 days of our detention, they did not earn any income. We are all daily wage earners. Who will compensate us for our losses?"

"Images of Netaji, Gandhi, Nazrul, and Rabindranath Tagore were once displayed on the walls of my enclave residence," Saheb Ali added. "Prior to 1971, the Pakistani police would have obstructed our celebrations of August 15. Furthermore, before 2015, while we resided in our enclave, Bangladeshi miscreants would have hindered us. Nevertheless, we commemorated both August 15 and January 26."

"We selected India as it is our homeland. We have left our own village, the illusion of the land, the rice fields, the mangoes in the gardens, we left all. Will there not be a place for us in this vast country? The mindset of partition-time is still existed," Sheb Ali finished his speech with a sigh.

In the post-2015 period, the connections among partition, territory, sovereignty, history, and identity are all problematized. Indianism are now conceived as more rigid, unmalleable, and unpredictable than ever before. ‘Idea of India’ is under attack. 

References:

[1] Stateless in South Asia: The Making of the India-Bangladesh Enclaves, Willem van Schendel, Cambridge University, 2010.

[2] ‘Na -nagoriker navishwas’: The life and hardships of the 'enclave' located on the complex map of India-Bangladesh; Edited by Subha Protim Roy Chowdhury, MASUM, 2015.

[3] [Enclave: The orphans of mid night’s children, Subha Protim Roy Chowdhury, 2012 https://www.academia.edu/9655187/Survey_Summary_of_22_Enclaves_and_Exclaves_in_India_and_Bangladesh]