The issue of refugees and “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam”
There’s something very strange about the famous “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” quote, that’s often thrown at Indians (read Hindus) when they ask why we are supposed to provide shelter to refugees from all places in the world. Be it Rohingya, be it Bangladeshi, and now we are supposed to provide for the persecuted so-called minorities of Afganistan! At the top of this, it’s happening when Turkey is in process of building a 295 kilometers concrete wall to stop the influx of refugees from Afganistan. Let’s come back to our initial issue of “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” being strange and see what’s so strange about it.
This often quoted Sanskrit phrase comes from both “Hitopdesh” and “Panchtantra” where stories are narrated to make youngsters understand how the con works. Often narrated only in part, the complete shloka says –
अयं निजः परोवेति गणना लघुचेतसाम्।
उदार चरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ।।
Meaning, thinking this is mine and that’s your is the habit of lesser mortals, for those who are large-hearted, all the world is like a family. Now the story behind it in Hitopdesh is that of a deer named Chitrang. He had a friend named Subuddhi, who was a crow. One day a jackal named Kshudrabuddhi sees the fat deer and plans to eat it. Since deer runs fast so jackal had no scope in hunting it down. Instead, he plans to trick Chitrang, so the jackal befriends the deer. On seeing deer with a jackal the crow tries to warn his friend deer and at this point in time the jackal comes up with the “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” quote. Obviously, the jackal lures the deer into a trap later, and since it’s a story so the crow comes and saves the foolish deer somehow.
When we see the story in Panchtantra, we see the story of a vulture who had grown old. Due to poor eyesight, he couldn’t fly long distances he used to sit on a tree. There were a lot of other nests on the tree and the old vulture took care of the young ones in the nests when the birds went to collect food. In return, the birds used to feed the vulture too. One day a cat comes to the tree, lured by a large number of birds easily available as prey. The vulture immediately challenged the cat, but the cat said it was completely vegetarian, and repeated the same shloka –
अयं निजः परोवेति गणना लघुचेतसाम्।
उदार चरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ।।
Like it happened in the previous story the vulture is fooled in this story too by “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam”. The cat kills and eats the young ones of many birds and hides the bones near the vulture’s perch. Cat escapes by the time birds start searching for the culprit and since all the bones were near the vulture’s perch the birds attack and kill him, thinking him to be a murderer. Now that you know the complete story, it’s not hard to guess that actually this “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” is the dialog of a con artist. It has been used in the stories to help identify the villain. As soon as someone utters these words, you should become cautious.
Getting back to the current scenario, India is again faced with a refugee crisis. Although the problem of huge population and the economic conditions of India is well known to the world, still the pressure to accept more refugees from Afganistan is being built up from the international community upon India! Add to it the clamor by the local journalists who till yesterday were crying hoarse over the poor condition of Muhammadans and the injustice being done to them on behest of the government-run by a hyper-nationalist political ideology of Hindutva. So how is it that suddenly the burden of refugees needs to be borne by already strained Indian taxpayers?
In the meanwhile Indian government on Tuesday announced that e-visa would be given to Afgan nationals who want to come to India in the wake of the current turmoil in Afganistan. As of July 2021, 15467 Afgan refugees and asylum seekers are already registered with UNHCR India. To give the matter a traditional touch it is being said that India has hosted refugees from Afganistan since 1979. Does it bind us to keep doing the same? But no instead of answering it is said that this is goodwill that the government should show. This also brings us to the 1951 UN Convention or the 1967 Protocol for which India is not a signatory. India also does not have a refugee policy or a law related to refugees of its own.
In the meantime, pressure is being increased on India to accept and keep accepting refugees! Of course, similar voices trying to force refugees on India can be heard from all quarters. Let’s take a look at what problems we face if we permit more refugees into India. In the wake of the recent pandemic, the world has been looking towards India with disbelief. Even though the world was pessimistic about the vaccination, we have been able to achieve milestones in it. Contrast it with what we will have to face shifting refugee population. At the same time, the slowing rate of vaccination in Afganistan has been a cause of concern for international authorities.
Considering the number of staff, our police departments have, refugees, turning into illegal immigrants is not at all impossible. We have been facing this scenario in the case of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants as well as in the case of recent Rohingya settlements in border areas to Kashmir. While one might wonder how so many illegal immigrants reached Kashmir after passing through more than a thousand kilometers of Indian soil, for those who are more aware of the shortage of staff the police forces have, this won’t be something strange. When we add to it the political backing which is said to be behind the illegal immigrants of a particular community, this doesn’t seem strange at all!
Deportation under the Foreigners Act is much more complex than it sounds. This can be seen in the failed attempt of the Assam government to send back a 14-year-old Rohingya girl. Assam officials took her to the Moreh border at Manipur but Myanmar did not accept her. The big question is that if we accept the refugees today and on a later date if Afganistan refuges to accept them what happens? That brings us to the principle of “non-refoulement”, to which India is bound because it’s a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Non-refoulement means no refugee shall be returned in any manner to any country where he or she would be at risk of persecution. This brings us back to the basic question from which we started. Should India be for the Indians first or should we listen to the “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” pitch, which is known to come from vested interests and hidden agendas? It’s high time India drafts its own policy and specific laws for refugees. Of course, they would raise a hue and cry over it, as they did for CAA/NRC even before it was passed and implemented. But to leave a secure nation for our future generations, we do need to take some hard decisions, don’t we?