• The author shares her personal experiences with Bangladeshis in Kerala.

We visited Thiruvananthapuram in 2007. We had driven down with Amma and Appa from Bangalore. This was during September and we went to Club Mahindra Poovar. Enjoyed the backwaters of Kerala for the first time and visited the Padmanabhaswamy temple for the first time during that trip.

Then in 2016, we travelled again to Kerala for ShikshaDaan. We went to Munnar, Alapuzha and Thekkady. Again we stayed in Club Mahindra properties everywhere and made a wonderful friend in Latheef at Thekkady. We still can't get over the aroma of the coconut oil that Latheef got for us!

We visited Thiruvananthapuram just now for the second time on the 13th of Jan and stayed at Swades My Home. The first housekeeping-cum-room service guy who came said he was from West Bengal, but he was clearly Bangladeshi.

Gurgaon has enough Bangladeshi maids and workers for me to recognise another Bangladeshi. Then another guy who came the next day was again a Bangladeshi and yet another person who came the next day in the evening was a Bangladeshi.

I can understand why Bangladeshis land up in Delhi and Gurgaon, it's because they can speak Hindi but why did these guys land up in Kerala??? 

Then I remembered the news item in several newspapers saying Rohingyas were being moved to Kerala. Were these Rohingyas that we met? They are obviously dirt poor and sustaining themselves by doing any job that they can but if these are Rohingyas, then it is cause for worry.

This is also why we need the NRC - illegal immigrants must go. On humanitarian grounds I can understand their poverty and distress but India is not a "dharamshala". 

Why do rich Arab countries not take the Rohingyas into their fold? Why not Finland or Sweden or Canada or Australia? Why are their hearts not melting even as their pockets are full of money?

I totally support a legal immigrant. There are several thousand Indians who migrate to the US or UK or some other country of their choice - and some Europeans and Americans choose India, and they are welcome.

But illegal immigrants are a huge challenge! They are a strain on your resources and India already has enough people that it needs to provide for.

What is the spineless UN doing about the refugee crisis? Or the Rohingya migration?

And do the great human right activists have anything to say about these things or it's not in fashion, so they have moved on to other newsworthy stuff? 

Finding Bangladeshis in Kerala has got me worried.... we are already dealing with enough internal strife in Kerala with a communist government. The roads need fixing, there are no industries being setup in Kerala and then the uncomfortable truth of love jihad has to be resolved ... now to deal with illegal immigrants is going to be really tough.

Rohingyas must be deported back to their country, Bangladesh or Myanmar. It's fascinating that the so called liberals and HMVs in India are lauding Bangladesh's economic growth and using it to criticize the Modi government but they are not ready to talk about the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who are a drain on India's resources. 

A Machiavellian thought is that Bangladesh is doing well because they are getting rid of Rohingyas and other trouble makers whilst India is growing inspite of being saddled with all these illegal immigrants and trouble makers.

Hmmm ... सब चलता है यहाँ ... राम भरोसे :(

Author is an Executive Coach, Co-founder www.Shikshadaan.com and blogs at www.90rollsroyces.com

Also read

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2. 30 years of Pandit exodus: Living as a refugee in one’s own country

3. CAA redeems historical promises

4. Why do Bengali Muslims migrate to Assam?

5. Bangladeshi infiltration into West Bengal

6. All you wanted to know about Bangladeshi infiltration into India