‘Bangladeshis have no business to be in India without permit’

Indicating stricter measures to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh, home minister P Chidambaram has said nationals from that country have “no business” to be in India without permission. He also said that there is “no reason” why a large number of visas are being issued to Bangladeshis every month. Chidambaram, who has been taking a close look at the security set up in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, voiced concern over the “very ineffective” monitoring system to check whether a Bangladeshi coming to India has returned to his country after expiry of his visa or stayed on. “I don’t regard a Bangladeshi as a Muslim or a non-Muslim. He is a Bangladeshi. He has no business to come to India unless he has a visa. He has no business to live here unless he has a residence permit. He has no business to work here unless he has a work permit. His religion is completely irrelevant,” he told a news channel. To a question on steps to end illegal immigration, the home minister said, “I am now looking into what is happening on our borders, passport control points...I think we issue a very large number of visas to Bangladeshis every month.” Chidambaram said porous borders and illegal immigration were causing “unexpected demographic changes and a lot of angst” among the native population in Assam and West Bengal. “I am in sympathy with that contention that demographies are changing. But some parts of the history cannot be retraced. So, one has to learn to accept it. Therefore, we will have to swallow something, accept some pain and then make sure that it doesn't continue for the next five or ten years,” he said.