Uprooted from their land, hopeful enclave dwellers arrive
Octogenarian Tarak Nath Burman was in his teens when millions of people were displaced from their homes in Bangladesh and had to take shelter in India as refugees because of the Partition in 1947. He witnessed another wave of migrants from Bangladesh to India during the 1971 war when he was nearing 40. But on both occasions he did not have to uproot himself.
On Thursday when 19 families — all enclave dwellers — crossed over the Indo-Bangla border to settle permanently in India, Burman could almost feel the pangs of Partition and being uprooted from his home.
“Even though during the partition days, people were ousted from their homes and had to enter India as refugees almost empty handed, today’s enclave dwellers were allowed to make a choice,” said Burman, 83, the oldest of the 67 enclave dwellers who crossed the border on Thursday.
It would go down as a historic day in the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh as 67 enclave dwellers crossed the border to settle permanently in India. A few hundred more would follow suit over the next few days.
“I couldn’t help my tears when I saw people demolishing our hut. We had to sell our land, which had been feeding us over years, at a throw away price,” said Sandhya Rani Burman, teary-eyed.
Even though they had to leave the land where they were born and brought up, hope of a better life was sparking in the eyes of many dwellers.
“At least I won’t have to fear anyone when I go to the toilet after dark. I want to study hard and get a job,” said 15-year-old Suparna Burman who crossed over with her 13-member family.
IT WOULD GO DOWN AS A HISTORIC DAY IN BILATERAL RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIA AND B’DESH AS 67 ENCLAVE DWELLERS CROSSED OVER