LANKA CRISIS BRINGS REFUGEE ISSUES TO THE FORE

The flow of people to India is likely to increase because the nation-building experiments in neighbouring countries are based on the religion and language of the majority

- V SURYANARAYAN

ON 22 March 2022, 16 Sri Lankan nationals—men, women and children—arrived in India seeking asylum. They were dropped in islets, very near the shore, in the Gulf of Mannar and were asked to wade through the water during low tide. The Indian Coast Guard spotted them and brought them to the Mandapam Camp. The boatmen charged `10,000 per person. For the boatmen, this is a lucrative business, the law of supply and demand operates. If there is a greater demand to escape to India, they charge more money.

Two preliminary remarks are in order. The flow of refugees to India is likely to increase because the nation-building experiments in neighbouring countries are based on the religion and language of the majority. The minorities are bitter and discriminated against; they would like to come to India because our nation’s record of providing asylum, from very early times, has been very generous. In Myanmar, for example, the Indian community cannot even use their names. When a child is admitted to the school, he has to take a Burmese name. All people, including women, are required to wear the national dress when they go to the office; the only place where they can wear Indian dress is at home, or on social occasions like marriage or while visiting temples.