Who is the Rohingya Muslims, who are accused of attacking the procession of Hanuman Jayanti in Jahangirpuri?
Tension prevailed in the area after stones were pelted at the procession of Hanuman Jayanti in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on Saturday. In this violent ruckus between the two sides, many people including 8 policemen were injured. The mob, who turned violent, ransacked houses and shops and set several vehicles on fire.
So far, 23 people, including 2 minors, have been arrested by the police in this case. At the same time, a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for a fair investigation of the matter. Meanwhile, the BJP has accused Rohingya Muslims of being behind the Jahangipuri violence.
Let us know who are Rohingya Muslims? Why is he being accused of violence in Jahangirpuri? What is the population of Rohingya Muslim in India? How true is the Rohingya involvement in the violence?
Why did the name of Rohingya Muslims come up in Jahangirpuri violence?
The BJP blamed Rohingya Muslims and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants for the violence that followed stone-pelting at the Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri.
Delhi BJP President Adesh Gupta accused Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party government of providing electricity and water facilities to Rohingya Muslims living illegally in Delhi.
In response to this, AAP MLA Naresh Balyan told the BJP that when the police, CBI are all yours, then how did the Rohingyas and Bangladeshis come inside the country?
Are there really Rohingya Muslims in Jahangirpuri?
Jahangirpuri is situated in the North-West district of Delhi. This Asia’s largest fruit and vegetable market is located near Azadpur. Jahangirpuri is a very densely populated area and people of Hindu-Muslim and Punjabi communities live here.
Due to being near Azadpur Mandi, a large number of people are involved in the work of fruits and vegetables. Jahangirpur has a significant number of lower middle income group, hence slums have also been built here. Jahangirpuri area is divided into eight blocks from A to H.
The population of Muslims is more in Block C and Block H-2 of Jahangirpuri. According to reports, Block C and Block H-2 have the largest population of Bangladeshi Muslims, many of whom also claim to be Rohingya. However, there is no official information about their number. The violence that took place on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday took place in the C block of Jahangirpuri itself.
Who is Rohingya Muslims?
The Rohingya are a stateless or stateless ethnic group. They follow Islam and come from the Rakhine province of Myanmar. In 1982, Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country, stripped Rohingyas of citizenship.
Due to this they were stripped of many rights including education, government jobs. Violence against the Rohingya has continued in Myanmar since then. Before the genocide of the Rohingya in 2017, Myanmar had a population of about 1.4 million.
Since 2015, more than 9 lakh Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh and other neighboring countries including India. The number of Rohingya in Bangladesh alone is more than 1.3 million.
Several Rohingya settlements in Delhi
● According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC), there are 1000 Rohingya refugees registered in Delhi. However, their actual number is estimated to be much higher.
● Delhi is one of the major places in terms of settlement of Rohingya in India. At least five such informal camps exist in Delhi, which has a large Rohingya population.
● There are five such areas, including Jasola, on the banks of Yamuna river, Shram Vihar, Kanchan Vihar and Madanpur Khadar in South Delhi, where there is a population of Rohingya Muslims.
● According to a report, Rohingya Muslims have started converting their religion in Delhi.
How many Rohingyas are there in India?
The number of Rohingya Muslims in India has increased rapidly since 2012. The Ministry of Home Affairs, quoting UNHRC, said that there is information about the presence of 18 thousand Rohingya Muslims in India by December 2021.
● In 2017, the Modi government had told the Rajya Sabha that there are about 40,000 Rohingya population living illegally in India.
● The government had said that within just two years, the Rohingya population in the country has increased 4 times.
● According to the government, there are Rohingyas in the country especially in Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Manipur.
● The government had clarified that there is no refugee camp for Bangladeshis and Rohingya in the country.
● The government, in collaboration with the respective state governments, is preparing to deport illegal Rohingya to their country.
● According to Human Rights Watch i.e. HRW, about 40 thousand Rohingyas in India live in camps and slums in different parts of the country.
● According to an estimate, about 5 thousand Rohingya Muslims live in the surrounding areas of Jammu and Kashmir. However, according to reports, their real number is closer to 10 thousand.
The government has told that Rohingya is a threat to the security of the country
● The government has termed the Rohingyas coming to India as “illegal immigrants” and a threat to “national security”.
● That is why even after the United Nations has given refugee status to the Rohingya, the Indian government keeps them in the category of illegal immigrants.
● India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Treaty 1951 or its 1967 protocol, so it is not bound to follow UN rules regarding Rohingya refugees.
● India grants refugee status to those coming from abroad on a case-by-case basis.
● In 2016, the Modi government allowed Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to get Indian citizenship.
● The government plans to deport around 40,000 illegal Rohingyas back to Myanmar.
● Against this decision of the government, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court in 2021.
● The top court had refused to stop the extradition of Rohingyas.
● This matter of Rohingya Muslims is still pending in the Supreme Court.
Gangs make illegal entry of Rohingya in India
● In March this year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) busted a human trafficking and arrested 6 people. This gang used to help Rohingya Muslims to enter and settle in India through fake documents.
● This gang was active on the border of Assam, Bengal, Meghalaya and other parts of the country. NIA had also raided many parts of Assam, Meghalaya and Karnataka in this case.
● According to reports, in the last few years, many such gangs have been caught, who work to bring Rohingya from Bangladesh to India with the help of fake documents.
● After being brought into the border of India, they are first registered with the UNHRC and then they are given asylum by changing their identity in different states.
Politics has been heating up on the issue of Rohingya
● The issue of Rohingya has been very hot in Indian politics for the past few years. The BJP has been demanding the expulsion of Rohingyas and illegal Bangladeshis from the country.
● During the 2019 elections, the BJP had accused the Kejriwal government of providing ration cards to Rohingya Muslims while doing vote bank politics.
● In 2021, during the hearing of a petition on the Rohingya case in the Delhi High Court, the Delhi government had said that it was making arrangements for food and drink for the Rohingya refugees.
● The central government may deny any official camp of Rohingya, but there are many informal settlements and camps of Rohingya in Delhi.
Do Rohingya have links with terror?
● Border Security Force (BSF) DG KK Sharma had said in 2018 that illegal arrival of Rohingyas in large numbers is a threat to the country’s security.
● He had said that the possibility of links of Rohingya with terrorist organizations cannot be ruled out.
● According to reports, Rohingyas are also involved in petty thefts to major crimes like robbery, murder and dacoity.
● According to some reports, in 2020, hundreds of Rohingyas participated in the CAA Protests in Shaheen Bagh and Zafarabad in Delhi.
● According to reports, political parties have even made ration and Aadhar cards of many Rohingyas for the benefit of votes, which has also made it difficult to identify many Rohingyas living illegally.
● By the way, till now there is no official record about the involvement of any Rohingya refugee in any terrorist attack in India.
Were Rohingya Muslims behind the Jahangirpuri violence?
Delhi Police Sub-Inspector Medalal Meena was fired upon by rioters during the violence in Jahangirpuri after stone-pelting on Hanuman Jayanti’s Shobha Yatra. Medalal says that as soon as the Shobha Yatra reached near the mosque in C block, stone pelting started on it. He said the rioters were raising slogans and their speech was very similar to that of Bangladeshis.
According to reports, the C block of Jahangirpuri, where the violence took place, has the highest population of Bangladeshi Muslims and also reportedly houses Rohingyas. Now the question is whether Rohingya Muslims had a hand in the violence during Hanuman Jayanti in Jahangirpuri? The answer to this will be revealed in the upcoming Delhi Police investigation report in the next few days.
