DailyPost 3057
’DUNKI’- A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS
The landing of a US military C-17 Globemaster aircraft with 104 repatriated Indian nationals on account of being illegal immigrants in the US is a watershed moment in the sordid saga of illegal migration out of India. Media interest faded as they found fresher hot news, and it was life as usual after statements in the parliament and the deportees escorted back to their homes in various states. The issue is simple: have the governments nothing to do with this whole trade of illegal immigration. If it is the job of the state to find illegal immigrants living in India and rightly so, then it is not the job of the state to know which citizens went missing without formal / legal exit from this country.
The foreign minister talked about legal action by the law enforcement agencies against the facilitators of this game. At the very best it is the standard lip service which ought to happen in situations of this nature, it was forgotten in the same breath as it was spoken. What is Dunki? It is a term used in South Asia mainly in India and Pakistan to refer to illegal immigration via risky, unauthorised routes. In simple terms it means the existence of human smugglers facilitating travel to western countries, by passing legal channels. The Indian government would have only confirmed that these were Indian nationals, if it can do that verification, how the exit check, control or monitoring remains totally outside of the government’s active purview and responsibility.
The design is sinister internally itself. The feelings and rationale nothing exists. Desperation on the one end and mafia, human smuggling cartel on the other end completes the circuit. The political class is deeply entrenched till the last booth and the last house and has the ability to track every voter and in the present context every beneficiary, it is not able to find out if a citizen has exited without proper documents and illegal routes. The whole issue falls right on the doorsteps of the government. They disappear from all the welfare schemes, inclusive of cash transfers with no trace. What a pioneering way we keep track and take care of its citizens. None of our famed digital India’s databases throw up a red herring.
When signboards, advertisements and hectic activity in preparation of illegal immigration is publicly on, no legal entity feels it proper to intervene. It is an open trade to which the government and the political class turn a blind eye. It has become a well oiled machine by now, operating for decades, generating huge amounts of money for all who are involved and all those in government and politics to turn a blind eye deliberately for a price. Everybody makes money, while the victims pay the price for being born in a rotten system. The visuals graphically explain their pathetic situation. They pay a price to get out of this country albeit illegally and then pay a heavier price of losing human dignity totally, when caught. They are the victims of a system that drives them to that desperation, sucks them if they decide to escape from their homeland and finally makes them the fall guy if caught and brought back.
’DUNKI’ VICTIMS ARE THE ULTIMATE MANIFESTATION OF ANTI-WELFARE STATE.
Sanjay Sahay