Rohingya Refugees are Back in the News. As BJP, AAP Spar, Know All About the Row Fuelled By a Tweet

Rohingya refugees are once again in the news, nearly five years after they were forced out of their home country of Myanmar. This time it is about their relocation from a temporary settlement in Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar. The union home ministry on Wednesday said the “illegal foreigners” must remain in their present location, urging the Delhi government to turn the area into a detention centre immediately.

The statement from the ministry of home affairs came hours after union minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted that all Rohingya refugees will be relocated to EWS (economically weaker section) flats in Bakkarwala area. The MHA issued a clarification that there were no such plans for the refugees, even as the BJP and the ruling AAP traded blame over the alleged proposal to resettle the Rohingya and provide them with basic amenities.

After being subjected to widespread violence, discrimination and persecution for decades, an exodus of the Rohingya began from their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar in August 2017 due to a state-sponsored offensive. They are a largely Muslim ethnic group but are still denied citizenship and freedom of movement in their home country, rendering them stateless. 

Here’s all you need to know about the latest on the Rohingya refugee crisis:

1. Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri finally issued a clarification over a row, most likely fuelled by his tweets in the morning. On Twitter, he posted the formal statement by the MHA over the alleged proposal to resettle Rohingya Muslims saying it was the “correct position”. “Home Ministry’s press release with respect to the issue of Rohingya illegal foreigners gives out the correct position,” he tweeted.
2. The BJP and the AAP began a war of words over the alleged proposal. The AAP said it will not allow the “conspiracy” by the Centre to illegally settle the Rohingya in the national capital. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the Centre, which was talking about resettling the Rohingya as an achievement, was now backtracking and laying the blame on the AAP-led government’s feet. He tweeted in Hindi: “The news that the central government was not tired of telling its achievement in the morning, after being opposed by the Aam Aadmi Party, has now started putting the responsibility on the Delhi government. Whereas it is a fact that the central government was secretly trying to give permanent residence to the Rohingyas in Delhi.” He added that the central government had sent the resettlement proposal for approval to the lieutenant governor without even showing it to the chief minister of Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal).
3. The BJP, meanwhile, called the Rohingya “infiltrators” and said Kejriwal was “worried about Rohingyas, not Delhiites”. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, “The HMO clarified that MHA hasn’t given any direction to provide EWS flats to illegal migrants. Delhi CM Kejriwal is worried about Rohingyas, not Delhiites. In meeting headed by Delhi CS on July 29, it was decided illegal migrants be shifted to “appropriate” housing,” adding, “it won’t be wrong to say that ‘Kejriwal ka haath ghuspaithiyon ke saath (Kejriwal is with infiltrators). The Centre’s policy is clear that there will be no compromise with national security and the country’s resources are for its citizens and not for illegal migrants.”
4. Reports stating that Rohingya refugees in Delhi will be relocated to EWS flats emerged on Independence Day. The reports also said the refugees will be provided with basic amenities, UNHCR IDs and protection by Delhi Police in the Bakkarwala area, where they will be moved. EWS flats have been constructed by the New Delhi Municipal Council and are located in the Bakkarwala area near Tikri border.
5. Puri took to Twitter to welcome the decision on Wednesday. He said India always welcomed those seeking refuge in the country. He also slammed those “who made a career out of spreading canards on India’s refugee policy deliberately linking it to CAA”, adding that India respected and followed the UN Refugee Convention, 1951, and provided refuge to all, regardless of their race, religion or creed.
6. Soon after Puri’s tweet, the MHA denied any plan to move Rohingya Muslims in Delhi to EWS flats and directed the Delhi government to ensure that the “illegal foreigners” remain in detention centres pending their extradition. The ministry said, “With respect to news reports in certain sections of the media regarding Rohingya illegal foreigners, it is clarified that the MHA has not given any directions to provide EWS flats to Rohingya illegal migrants at Bakkarwala in New Delhi.” Puri had tagged a news agency story in his posts. The MHA also tweeted: “Illegal foreigners are to be kept in Detention Centre till their deportation as per law. The Government of Delhi has not declared the present location as a Detention Centre. They have been directed to do the same immediately.”
7. According to an estimate by the MHA, close to 40,000 Rohingya migrants live in different parts of the country, including Delhi. Last year, the central government told the Rajya Sabha that “illegal Rohingya immigrants” are staying in 12 states and union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka and Kerala.
8. But as per estimates from Rohingya rights activist Ali Johar, there are 1,100 Rohingya Muslims in Delhi and another 17,000 elsewhere in India, working mainly as manual labourers, hawkers and rickshaw pullers. He said some 2,000 Rohingya left for Bangladesh this year, amid fears of being deported. “Most of the Rohingya in Delhi now live in rented accommodation, where they feel safe, or in settlements,” said Johar, who moved to India a decade ago and lives with his family. He said, “If it (the present settlement) turns out to be a detention camp, that will be a nightmare for us.”
9. The Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has previously tried to repatriate the Rohingya, who are a minority community in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Bangladesh has the highest number of Rohingya refugees.
10. Most of the Rohingya fled their homes in Myanmar after a 2017 army offensive that is now subject to a landmark genocide case in the top court of the United Nations. Five years after the crackdown that sparked the exodus, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday said it was unsafe for the refugees to return to their homes. “Unfortunately the current situation across the border means that the conditions are not right for returns,” said Bachelet in Bangladesh capital Dhaka, adding, “repatriation must always be conducted in a voluntary and dignified manner, only when safe and sustainable conditions exist in Myanmar.”
11. A fact-finding mission by the United Nations concluded that the 2017 military campaign by Myanmar drove out 7,30,000 Rohingya out of the country and had included “genocidal acts” such as mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes. Myanmar has denied genocide, rejecting the UN findings as “biased and flawed”. It says its crackdown was aimed at Rohingya rebels who had carried out attacks. In a 2020 provisional decision, the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from harm, a legal victory that established their right under international law as a protected minority.

    (With agency inputs)

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