One would almost believe that a spectre is haunting India – the spectre of Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims – if they listen to the words being uttered by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders. In response to the recent Jahangirpuri violence, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, alleged, “There is hooliganism across the country because of the BJP today … I ask them, in the last eight years, why did the BJP give shelter to Bangladeshis and the Rohingya across the country? They gave shelter to them and then used them to cause communal disharmony across the nation.”
This is twisted logic, but little does the AAP care. In its quest to woo Hindutva voters of the BJP who are disillusioned with them on issues of governance, the AAP has endangered Bengali-speaking Muslims throughout India. Now, there is a concerted attack on them in other states, where anyone who is a Muslim and speaks Bengali is seen as an ‘alien’ citizen.
This misportrayal of Bengali-speaking Muslims as 'illegal Bangladeshi immigrants' (or Rohingya refugees) has caused them enormous suffering. And when such comments come from political leaders, they end up building a narrative wherein not only government officials but the common public, too, starts treating Bengali Muslims as the ‘other’.