Living on the Margins. Minorities in South Asia - EURAC

their significance as a group and highlight their numerical minority status. For the most
part minorities are conspicuous by their absence in the public sphere, in the judiciary, in
the administration as well as in academic institutions, business and entertainment. 10
But the arrow of communalism is drawn long before the Hindus depart from their original
home. There is a high level of denial by the establishment of repression against Hindus.
Dina M. Siddiqui, writing on the situation says, " In Bangladesh, Public discourse on the
'minority problem', tends to veer between ostrich like denial and a call to arms that verges
on rhetorical excesses in moments of crisis. This 'excess' can be understood as a fall-out
of the syndrome of misrecognition,… Silence, denial and a not so benign neglect are
hallmarks of majoritarian responses to reports of discrimination and violence faced by
ethnic or religious minorities. Ask any Muslim Bangladeshi about communalism, nine
times out of ten, s/he will tell you it doesn't exist, that communal riots happen in India,
not in Bangladesh. Indeed, there is a great deal of pride that the program against Muslim
in Gujarat in 2002 did not result in retaliatory violence against Hindus in Bangladesh.
Suffice it to say, the absence of 'riots' does not necessarily indicate the absence of all
forms of violence. Among other things, riots require two relatively equal sides to battle it
you". 11
The reasons for seeking India are obvious - a steady career, peace of mind and prospects
for upward mobility (freed of state assented discrimination), in a high growth economy.
However, it unwittingly contributes to the production of demonizing images for both
communities. The Hindus migrate because they feel alienated and the establishment feels
justified in discriminating against them because of regular Hindu migration to India.
It is in this context that India as a recipient of migration and a refuge for Hindus
reinforces its ambivalent identity as a provider of space where career opportunities and
communalism rub shoulders. What makes this even more politically loaded is the varied
treatment of different communities, including India's own Muslim minority population,
now officially acknowledged as an underdeveloped community.
Departure has become a bearer of several meanings. Dominantly, it indicates the
migration of Hindus to India to escape a hostile environment that doesn't offer safety or
opportunities. The classes that have got most depleted are representatives of the middle
and upper classes. It echoes the migration trends of 1947 when cross border mobility was
influenced by the vision of a long term better future as much as by the present and
immediate past. Those who have not departed either see no future for themselves in India
or can not afford the journey in a social or economic sense. They are mostly the poor and
the very poor. 12
India is the recipient of the middle class Hindus. These are generally people who believe
they have the skills to make a transition in another country. Whatever frustrations they
encounter, are somewhat compensated by the greater comfort of belonging, of identity
construction. They become the new members of the majority and often are hostile
towards those who were the erstwhile majority in Bangladesh. India accepts them partly
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