Bedlangmari, the beautiful rustic land bordering the strife-torn Kokrajhar has a vast majority of Bengali speaking Muslims. Most of these people now live in the relief camps taking refuge but they are all accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

However, they all have papers signed by the government declaring that they all are residents of India, or at least the papers look valid to say the least.  Most people had electoral rolls, father’s names on their birth certificates, ration cards, judicial stamp papers from popular magistrates. A few had also showed tax records and were residing in Indira Awas Yojana homes.

What baffles the people is that if they were illegal immigrants, how could they secure valid documents? And seeing the other side of the tale, if the documents are fakes, who could have signed them as the signatures were pretty genuine?

Could there be the involvement of influential people to help them get the necessary ID papers. This could be a matter of concern for both the Bodo Territorial Council in Kokrajhar and the Assam Government. If the questions remain unanswered there is a higher probability that the situation may worsen and there are also chances that there would be several more episodes of the Assam Violence registered a month ago.

What bothers us is that there could be a dangerous business that could have been present in the areas of illegal immigration where Bangladeshi entrants could have gained the papers easily or that there could be a graver situation belying the condition that remains unseen to the unsuspecting government.
(AW- Anil)