Mrinal Chandra Barman, left, and others at Indian
enclave Dashiarchhara in Phulbari of Kurigram. They want to become
Indian nationals. Photo: Zahed Khan
It is nothing compared to the greatest migration in history when
people moved like ants to cross borders into Bengal and Punjab. There
will be no violence and death stalking them at every footstep. And yet
there will be many similarities.
Second time in the history of this sub-continent, a mass migration, however small may be the number – 979 to be exact and only one way from this side to India– will take place anytime soon once the enclaves will no longer exist from midnight today.
For the second time in our history, people were given a choice, just as in 1947, to choose their homeland.
In Dashiarchhara, an Indian enclave in Bangladesh, 284 people – 158 of them Hindus and 126 Muslims – will travel to India, cross the border and say goodbye to this land for ever.
Mrinal Chandra Barman is one of them who is waiting to migrate. He had ten bighas of land here which he farmed. But now he is taking preparation to leave. He has already sold all the tall trees on his homestead for Tk 10,000.
“I don't know what I will do there, but I will go,” Mrinal says, his wife and children waiting in the background. “This was my fate. What can I do?”
Mrinal knows he will not get any land from the Indian government against the land he will forego here. He knows he will have to stay in a camp. And he does not know what will happen to him next. He also does not know what will happen to his land here.
“I have to surrender the land to the administration. But I am not
sure whether I can sell the land because there will be no buyers, or
they will quote ridiculously low price because they know I have no
option.”
Krishna Kanti Barman also does not know how and when he will reach India.
“I hope the government will provide us vehicle to transport our stuffs– beds and utensils,” he says. “I was an Indian enclave person. So I opted to be an Indian.”
Krishna however has a better hope because he is a mason and he has some relatives there who had migrated illegally before India put up the barbed wire fence.
“I know how to build a building. I have heard that there is a big town over there. So there must be a lot of constructions. If you know how to work, you will not go unfed,” he laughs, nervously.
Like Krishna and Mrinal, 30 percent of the Hindus of Dashiarchhara will go to India and become its citizens.
For Muslims, the comparable figure will be much lower at only about 1.5 percent.
Shahjahan Ali and his entire family of three brothers and two sisters are among them who are also getting ready for the migration. They however have very little to take with them. They do not even have any land.
“We will just grab our clothes and go,” Shahjahan says.
“I will take my ornaments,” says his sister Asma, who shows her box of imitation bangles. “I love them. I don't want to go without my bangles.”
And as Mrinal, Shahjahan and others like them are preparing to leave, the moneyed people in Dashiarchhara are getting ready too for a different reason.
They know those who are leaving will have no choice but to sell their property, now or later.
“I will buy their land. It must come cheap because if we do not buy who will then?” Shamsul chortles in front of his pucca house. “After all it is the time for making hay.”
Second time in the history of this sub-continent, a mass migration, however small may be the number – 979 to be exact and only one way from this side to India– will take place anytime soon once the enclaves will no longer exist from midnight today.
For the second time in our history, people were given a choice, just as in 1947, to choose their homeland.
In Dashiarchhara, an Indian enclave in Bangladesh, 284 people – 158 of them Hindus and 126 Muslims – will travel to India, cross the border and say goodbye to this land for ever.
Mrinal Chandra Barman is one of them who is waiting to migrate. He had ten bighas of land here which he farmed. But now he is taking preparation to leave. He has already sold all the tall trees on his homestead for Tk 10,000.
“I don't know what I will do there, but I will go,” Mrinal says, his wife and children waiting in the background. “This was my fate. What can I do?”
Mrinal knows he will not get any land from the Indian government against the land he will forego here. He knows he will have to stay in a camp. And he does not know what will happen to him next. He also does not know what will happen to his land here.
ADVERTISEMENT
Krishna Kanti Barman also does not know how and when he will reach India.
“I hope the government will provide us vehicle to transport our stuffs– beds and utensils,” he says. “I was an Indian enclave person. So I opted to be an Indian.”
Krishna however has a better hope because he is a mason and he has some relatives there who had migrated illegally before India put up the barbed wire fence.
“I know how to build a building. I have heard that there is a big town over there. So there must be a lot of constructions. If you know how to work, you will not go unfed,” he laughs, nervously.
Like Krishna and Mrinal, 30 percent of the Hindus of Dashiarchhara will go to India and become its citizens.
For Muslims, the comparable figure will be much lower at only about 1.5 percent.
Shahjahan Ali and his entire family of three brothers and two sisters are among them who are also getting ready for the migration. They however have very little to take with them. They do not even have any land.
“We will just grab our clothes and go,” Shahjahan says.
“I will take my ornaments,” says his sister Asma, who shows her box of imitation bangles. “I love them. I don't want to go without my bangles.”
And as Mrinal, Shahjahan and others like them are preparing to leave, the moneyed people in Dashiarchhara are getting ready too for a different reason.
They know those who are leaving will have no choice but to sell their property, now or later.
“I will buy their land. It must come cheap because if we do not buy who will then?” Shamsul chortles in front of his pucca house. “After all it is the time for making hay.”
