India’s police raid on Delhi’s migrants shows old inequalities

In the gururahm, a high -cown suburb, near Delhi, shiny SUVs, futuristic skyscrapers and neat apartments in sharp contrast with the nearest mosquitoes, piles of garbage and tarpaulin.

Inside the closed connections live some of the richest India, while in the slum nearby, poor workers migrants live in the main household assistants, gathered and daily workers.

Last month, local authorities gathered hundreds of these workers, most of whom say they are Bengal -speaking Muslims from the Western Bengali state of India, in “checking” aimed at illegal Bangladesh immigrants.

The suspects were detained and kept in the Holding Centers, where they were asked to provide documents to prove citizenship. Many claim that they were beaten and severely treated by the police during the process. Police representatives deny these allegations.

“I had my voters and national certificates, but they told me they were counterfeiting.

The action left the lasting scars on the social fabric of the city, which is proud of its cosmopolitan culture. Hundreds of workers escaped over the night – giving up their jobs, houses, and in some cases even the families who are in a hurry to escape.

“I still don’t understand why they suddenly followed me,” Mr. Sheikh said. Behind him, his wife hastily packed his belongings – torn clothes, old utensils and school books – in far -fetched boxes.

“Was it out of my language, my religion, or because I am poor?” Mr. Sheikh continued, his face hardened anger. “Why weren’t Bengal residents rich?”

Police in Gurugram denies orientation to any specific community. “Neither religion nor the class have anything to do with the disc,” said Sandep Kumar’s public relations officer.

He added that out of 250 who rose, only 10 were recognized as illegal migrants and would actually be deported.

“Everyone was released. No one was in the center. We were quite fair and objective.”

Meanwhile, he got felt on the other side of the city.

If there are no workers, piles of garbage are crowded with public trash and emissions on the street, it is inconvenient to residents.

“Our home help and her husband, who worked as a driver, both left, and now we have no help,” said Tabasum Bono, who lives in one of the complexes.

The repression of allegedly illegal immigrants from Muslim Bangladesh in India are not new. The countries are divided into a sieve 4,096 km (2545 miles), and saw the waves of people on both sides.

But these efforts seem to have intensified under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In recent months, hundreds of people, including a veteran of the Muslim Indian army, have been arrested on suspicion of illegal migrants.

In the northeastern state of ASAM, where this issue for decades was a powerful outbreak, the authorities were “Push back” hundreds of Bengal Muslims Bangladesh on suspicion is that they are “illegal Bangladesh”.

Deportations are also being carried out in Delhi, where about 700 people have been seized in the last six months and thrown into the border states.

This had a cold influence on society.

In the gururam, the feeling of shock prevailed over their dust colonies.

“For many years, we have been harvesting and collecting garbage. Now we treat ourselves as ourselves,” Raun Bibi said.

On the same day, when the detentions began, the detentions returned from Western Bengal, in home help. Hearing about it, he was so horrible that he left again – this time, without reporting his wife.

“For three days I wondered if he was taken away; whether he was alive,” Rauna said. “When we finally said, he said he didn’t call because he wants no problem.”

But this is not the husband’s behavior disturbed by Rauna, or what he is out of work now. It was the theft of her pride – and the comfort of belonging to the place – most caused her harm, which made her feel inappropriately insignificant.

“Unlike poverty, I can’t fight this work,” she said. “If they took us away, I wouldn’t know how to survive. This slum, the work we do, and the houses we clean are all our lives.”

Mr. Kumar says recent actions are based on the Ministry of the House Message since May, which teaches new recommendations for deportation of illegal immigrants.

According to the order, all states are obliged to create a special operational group together with the centers of the holding for “detection, detection and deportation/sending back illegal immigrants who settled from Bangladesh and Myanmar”.

Each person will be granted 30 days to prove their citizenship, during which the authorities send their documents back to their home areas to check.

If they do not confirm the details, the suspects will be accepted by the police “with proper accompaniment, in groups as possible,” and transferred to the border for deportation.

Critics, however, questioned the order, saying that it does not indicate the basis on which the person becomes a suspect.

“Opposite this, it’s nothing more than you speak with the Bengal language, you have a Muslim name and live in a passion,” said Akash Bhattacheria from the National Council of the Central Council of Trade Unions of India, which stands for the rights of workers.

What is worse, this is that any of the suspects do not give certificates that confirm that their citizenship has already been checked, he added.

“This means that they can be done again through the same process that makes them extremely vulnerable.”

Mr. Kumar says the detentions in Gururahm were made on the basis of strong previous evidence.

“We checked their phones and found suspicious contacts from Bangladesh. Some also did not answer questions about their ancestry during the interrogation,” he said.

Sukhos Chakma, human rights activist, says that politics is not necessarily religious.

“The arrest of Muslims seems to be more as they make up about 95% of Bangladesh population,” he explained.

But for a country that has seen the influx of refugees for decades, India needs a wider refugee law to address many of these difficult issues, he added.

So far, the Bengal Muslims live with a deep sense of anticipation.

Many of them slept with documents tucked under the pillow, if strikes from misfortune.

“We have already fought with the harsh reality of our lives. Now we must also fight this,” said Rabe-Ul-Hassan, a resident of Jay Hind-lager, a massive slum, located in one of the most popular angles of Delhi.

Three weeks ago, the authorities cut off electricity in the area, instantly immersing about 400 people into the darkness.

The action took place after the court ruled that the slum residents who said they had lived there for generations, squatting on private land.

“They did it even when the area was recognized as a legal slum in the city organization,” said the wrap of the tire, a lawyer who challenges the order.

Since then, residents have been in a stupor, stunned, angry and tired. “The warmth is unbearable. The food continues to rot, and the children do not stop crying. At night we try to sleep on the street, but then the mosquitoes bite us,” Bibbi said.

“I am so exhausted,” she continued, “that sometimes I wonder whether to live in the holding center. At least there will be a fan, right? “