Members of Ham Radio, West Bengal Radio handing over the woman and her son to the police (Photo Courtesy: Ham Radio)
Vishal Shrestha, Gangasagar. A large section of Bangladeshi Hindus have to resort to infiltration to come to Gangasagar to take a holy bath on Makar Sankranti. The reason is that most of them have not yet got passports and those who have, are not able to get visas for this 'purpose'.
A Bangladeshi woman identified in Gangasagar has revealed this. A woman named Nayana Das said, 'I had come here along with my three-year-old son Rudra and 46 other people to take a holy bath by crossing the border illegally with the help of an agent named Gopal. My child was lost here. To find him I was forced to reveal my real identity. Most of the people who have come with me are elderly. After coming to India, everyone left separately. There was a fear of being easily recognized when we were together.
'We do not want to come here to take holy bath in a wrong way on Makar Sankranti, the great festival of our faith, but there is no other solution. We neither get a passport nor do we get a visa for it. In the current circumstances in Bangladesh, it is almost impossible to get a visa.
Ambrish Nath Biswas, secretary of Ham Radio, West Bengal Radio Club, the organization that traced the child, said that we found this child crying. We traced his mother through our networks. Complete research was done about the child before handing it over to the mother. In this sequence, it was revealed that the woman was a resident of South Hatia area of Bangladesh and had come here secretly with the help of an agent to take holy bath.
After crossing the border, the agent kept her mobile with him and asked her to return to a certain place after taking a bath, from where he was going to take her back to Bangladesh. The woman and children have been handed over to the local police.
Ambareesh, who has been searching for those missing in the Gangasagar fair for more than 36 years, said that this time the number of Bangladeshi Hindus here is negligible. Because, every time among the people we search, there are many Bangladeshi Hindus also. Some come legally and some by infiltration. This time only one has been found so far.
On the request of not publishing the name, a worker of an organization organizing service camps in Gangasagar said that the name and address of all the pilgrims who stay in the service camps are definitely noted in the register. There are many Bangladeshi Hindus among them. People who come illegally hide their identity by taking the help of fake documents. If caught, action can be taken against them.
Many Bangladeshis come illegally through waterways from Sunderbans.
Premnath Dubey, the service minister of Bajrang Parishad, the main organization involved in reuniting the separated in Gangasagar, said that Gangasagar is very close to Bangladesh, hence every year most of the Bangladeshi Hindus come here illegally by water route from Sundarban in Bhutbhuti (motorized boat) and live in camps hiding their identity. Even if they have no evil intentions and just come to take a virtuous bath, ultimately it is a crime.
The Bengal government ministers who are responsible for organizing the Gangasagar fair are avoiding saying anything about it. However, when Puri's Shankaracharya Nischalanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj, who came to Gangasagar to take a holy bath, was asked about this, he said that the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh are the short-sightedness of the Muslims there. They do not know that only if Hindus remain safe, people of other religions will also be safe.