The Parliamentary Debates on Bangladeshi Migrants (1971–2009)
The chapter on parliamentary debates analyses the continuing debates about Bangladeshis that took place in the national parliament of India and how their presence was viewed and debated by different sectarian and secular regional and national political parties’ representatives. The Lok Sabha debate texts from 1971 to 2011 have been analysed in this chapter. It discusses the debates on Bangladeshi migrants before, during and after the previous NDA regime. The parliamentary debate provides a window to the readers through which it is possible to obtain a picture of what has been going on over the years in the main arena of Indian politics. It also gives a sense of the lively debates conducted by Indian politicians on the issue of Bangladeshi migration into India, the opponents and their allegations and the proponents who defended and sympathised with the migrants.