Bajrang Dal on Tuesday said “Bangladeshis” living in India must either leave their country or convert to Hinduism as they were abusing resources there.
Balraj Dungar, convenor of the Bajrang Dal for Meerut in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, said: “Our first demand is that they must leave the country, as they are abusing our resources. However, if they wish to live here, they must convert to Hinduism and adapt to the ways of our life,” reports the Times of India.
Commenting on the recent instances of “ghar wapsi” in Uttar Pradesh, Dungar said: “We had been involved in ghar wapsi campaigns even during the UPA regime. This is a continuous, ongoing process.”
Bangladeshis have taken refuge in India, and continue to live here even 43 years after the Bangladesh war, The Times of India quoted Dungar as saying.
When asked what the conversion had got to do with illegal stay he said they now need to go back. Besides, the fact that they are living illegally will not change with conversion but “at least they will add to our strength in numbers.”
VHP Organisational Secretary Sudarshan Chakra, however, said he would not agree with the Bajrang Dal leader.
“Our organisation’s agenda does not give any respite to the Bangladeshis. As per government statistics, there are around three crore Bangladeshis in India. They must all leave. There is no question of them converting to Hinduism. Because of them, unemployment and crime rates have risen.
“They indulge in anti-national activities. Despite all that, various governments in the past have been providing them with benefits. They have ration cards and voter IDs. Nothing will legalise their stay in India. They have to go,” Chakra said.
The Times of India says estimates of the number of Bangladeshis in India vary widely. The 2001 Census report, quoted by an online site, estimated that there were 3 million Bangladeshis in India.
In 2012, Mullappally Ramachandran, then union minister of state for home, claimed that nearly 1.4 million Bangladeshi migrants had entered India in the last decade alone.
In 2007, central government statistics had said there were two crore Bangladeshis living in India illegally.
The Bajrang Dal is a militant Hindu organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva – the fundamentalist idea of being a Hindu.
Founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, it has since spread throughout India, although its most significant base remains the northern and central portions of the country.