Chandigarh: It may have been covered by Indian media as an ordinary political statement of ruling party’s president, but it is an ominous sign which indicates that BJP chief is attempting to propagate “dehumanisation” of Bangladeshi immigrants. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said on Saturday (Sept. 22) that Bangladeshi migrants were like termites, and each one of them would be struck off the electoral roll.
Referring to the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) recently published in Assam, he said the BJP government identified nearly 40 lakh illegal immigrants.
“BJP sarkaar ek-ek ghuspaithiye ko chun-chun kar matdata suchi se hatane ka kaam karegi,” he said. (“The BJP government will pick out each and every infiltrator and remove the name from the voters’ list.”)
Genocide studies scholar Gregory H. Stanton has identified various stages that lead to the crime of genocide and dehumanisation is one such stage.
As per Prof. Stanton’s research that was based on study of various episodes of genocide, the early signs of genocide are ‘categorisation’ of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Through this categorisation the possible perpetrator group identifies the victim group as ‘others’.
Prof. Stanton has explained that warning signs of possibility of commission of massacre, which according to him happens at seventh stage, emerge in form of categorisation and dehumanisation of the targeted group.
BJP chief’s statement terming humans as ‘termite’ is actually an attempt to dehumanise Bangladeshi migrants by comparing them with insects.