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  Finally, ‘What the Shattered AAP Dream Tells Us about Ourselves’ talks about holding our governments accountable, despite all the disappointments.

  The Rohingya Are Human, Too: How We Can Deal with Refugees and Still Keep India Safe

  By handling the Rohingya crisis both humanely and practically, India stands to strengthen its political presence in the South Asian region

  News reports informed us that the BSF used pepper spray and stun grenades to stop Rohingya refugees from entering Indian territory. The government also seems keen to get rid of the Rohingya already in the country (their numbers are estimated at around 40,000), citing security threats.

  Many of our TV news channels seem to agree. We have even heard news anchors screaming, ‘Let the Rohingya be found floating around in the Indian Ocean. Don’t dump them here.’ Well, we are talking about human beings here. That includes children, women and elderly people. Some of these are people living in our own neighbourhoods today.

  There are border villages of Myanmar’s Rakhine province (where the Rohingya come from) which are not far (in the range of a hundred kilometres) from some towns in Mizoram. Ethnically, these people are Indo-Aryan. Their own country has marginalised them for decades. They are denied citizenship and passports, need state permission to marry (which takes years) and to travel to neighbouring villages, and are excluded from government jobs.

  Worse, there is a systematic campaign of racism and hate against them in Myanmar. Imagine living in your own country like a hated outsider, denied basic rights, and watching people from your community getting routinely killed just for being who you are.

  If you can understand this suffering as a human being, then it is perhaps also time to disclose that the majority of the Rohingya are Muslims. Does it make a difference? Is their suffering any less because of their religion?

  So why are we pepper-spraying their kids and screaming to get them out?

  There are several reasons. Some are actually valid. Others simply reek of our bigotry and lack of human empathy. They also ignore the potential benefits and opportunities that India gains by being a regional Big Brother.

  But first, let’s go over the valid reasons for not welcoming the Rohingya. According to the Indian government, some Rohingya in India may have terror links, or are at risk of radicalisation. This assessment is not inaccurate. Unfortunately, there are groups with fundamentalist leanings among the Rohingya.

  To fight the injustice the Rohingya have been subjected to, organisations like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have popped up. They use violent means to grab attention for their cause. In fact, the recent purge of the Rohingya by the Myanmar government was a result of ARSA terror attacks.

  Hence, the Rohingya are not just seen as victims, but also as a community with significant radical elements. People who live in strife, have limited means, and are discriminated against, are more vulnerable to being indoctrinated. In fact, plenty of Indians fit these criteria and can be exploited in the same way.

  Having said that, if we had a proper registry of the Rohingya in India, enabling us to monitor the community more closely, such probability is reduced. If we gave them legal refugee status in the country (rather than forcing them to hide from authorities) by issuing refugee cards, for instance, we could have a better idea of what they are up to. As in any community with radical elements, we would find that over 99 per cent of them are not terrorists.

  Spraying them with pepper, or sending them back to the country that will probably kill them, doesn’t seem like something a civilised, democratic and humane country would do. One of the reasons cited for doing so is the ‘burden’ refugees place on the state that hosts them. The fact that there are about a million Rohingya left in Myanmar is a matter of concern.

  Most of these refugees move to Bangladesh, as most Rohingya territories in Myanmar border this country. In the recent exodus alone, Bangladesh received over 4,00,000 refugees, ten times as many as the total number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in India. These refugees fend for themselves, get very few state benefits and work mostly as daily wage labourers. Are they really going to create such a burden?

  The bigger question is: how do we handle refugees in general? What would we have done, for example, if Hindus were persecuted in Pakistan to the point that they were all forced to run to us? Would we accept them and give them asylum, or would we pepper-spray them back?

  We need to provide a mechanism for refugees from our neighbouring countries through which they can legally apply for asylum. If they can prove persecution—religious, ethnic or otherwise—they may be considered eligible. Economic reasons alone will not be enough to justify immigration. Once inside the country, these refugees would also be tracked by the state. They would be more obligated to inform the government of their movements and activities than regular citizens.

  Of course, having a formal refugee policy doesn’t mean India alone takes in refugees while the rest of the continent does nothing. Just as in the EU, there should be sharing arrangements in the ASEAN region to handle refugee crises. Richer nations can contribute more money towards the resettlement of asylum seekers.

  Meanwhile, if India took the lead in handling the Rohingya crisis, it would lift our image as a serious power and problem-solver in the region. If we indulge in fearmongering and pepper-spraying instead, it will only show how immature we are.

  Ultimately, the Myanmar government cannot be absolved of its actions which have created the crisis. To deny citizenship to people who have lived in your country for decades is deplorable and unjustifiable, whatever the rationale. Myanmar is a country with a Buddhist majority. We see Buddhism as one of the world’s most non-violent religions. Hence, the extreme violence meted out to Rohingya is, frankly, shocking to most Indians.

  India can play a big role in pressuring Myanmar to fix this problem peacefully. But we have to decide. Are we going to be the scared, xenophobic and close-minded India of the past, or a more open, humane and mature society?

  How we treat the helpless at our door goes a long way in determining that.

  Shorts First, Soul Next?

  RSS should use all its influence with the government to push for 10 per cent growth, not Hindu culture

  Something dramatic happened: the ninety-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh changed its uniform. The ubiquitous RSS khaki shorts will make way for brown trousers.

  This change is superficial at one level. After all, a rose is a rose by any other name and an RSS worker is an RSS worker no matter what they wear. But it also shows the RSS intent to change with the times. In fact, the RSS today has a golden opportunity to contribute to India’s progress, which is its stated mission. This can only happen if the organisation modifies its current ideology as well as some of the means it adopts to achieve its goals.

  The RSS began life during the British Raj, as an organisation dedicated to bringing the Hindus of the country together to protect their interests. It was banned first during British rule and thrice after Independence—in 1948, when Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi; then during the Emergency (1975–77); and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Some of these bans were political (the Congress saw the RSS as an adversary). Eventually, all of them were revoked. Such a history does create trust issues for outsiders who wonder what this organisation is really about.

  The official RSS website sums up its mission: ‘Expressed in the simplest terms, the ideal of the Sangh is to carry the nation to the pinnacle of glory through organising the entire society and ensuring the protection of Hindu Dharma.’ Further, ‘Our one supreme goal is to bring to life the all-round glory and greatness of our Hindu Rashtra […] Bharat must stand before the world as a self-confident, resurgent and mighty nation.’

  The mission thus appears to be twofold: one, to restore India’s glory in the world; and two, to organise and protect Hindu religion and culture. There is nothing wrong with these goals as such. Problems arise when the RSS uses certain