All are NOT Equal

From vote banks to pawns in international relations, India uses refugees based on changing interests

- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

IN the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills of West Bengal, stickers and posters demanding the release of the 11th Panchen Lama from alleged forced confinement by the Chinese authorities can be spotted in many of the shops owned by the Tibetan refugee population. The Panchen Lama is considered the second-highest spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, after the Dalai Lama, and has been one of the contentious issues of China and the Dalai Lama’s battle over Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. 

Such posters put up by Rohingya Muslim refugees condemning violence by Myanmar’s military junta rulers and the Buddhist majoritarians in that country are not even faintly imaginable anywhere in India. 

In India—one of the highest global intakers of refugee populations—all refugees are not equal. In August 2022, Urban Development and Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had to learn this truth the hard way. He wrote in a tweet, “India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision, all #Rohingya #Refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs & round-the-clock @DelhiPolice protection.” 

The drubbing came within hours. Amidst panicked phone calls from a section of West Bengal and Assam BJP leaders to their Delhi bosses, inquiring if the party’s policy suddenly changed, the home ministry issued a statement, clarifying that it did not give any direction to provide EWS (economically weaker section) flats to “Rohingya illegal migrants.”