In 1947, after partition very few Muslims migrated en masse to East Pakistan, from West Bengal and Assam . There were communal riots in East Pakistan in 1954 and 1964. On both occasions, the Hindu and Buddhist communities were targeted, and they migrated in droves to India. They came as refugees, and were kept in camps before being resettled. From the creation of Pakistan, its eastern wing, which was already over populated, was neglected. Insidiously, migration of the Muslim population into India started. It was a flow from an economically weaker zone to an economically less weak zone. 

Then came the crackdown in East Pakistan by the Pakistan Army in 1971. Hindus and Muslims in lakhs fled across borders and were kept in temporary camps. After birth of Bangladesh , many of the Hindus and Muslims did not go back. A very unfortunate development took place after Indira - Mujib pact was signed. The Government of Bangladesh said that they could not take back any illegal migrants from erstwhile East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was a new country. In the euphoria of having helped in the birth of Bangladesh, Mrs Gandhi agreed. At one stroke, several million illegal migrants from East Pakistan, who had violated the provisions of the Foreigners Act, from 1950 to 1971 became citizens of India.

Bangladesh features amongst the leading countries of the world as far as atrocities on minorities is concerned. Members of minority religions have suffered from ghastly violence, including collective terror. Some Buddhists and Christians were blinded, had fingers cut off or had hands amputated, while others had iron rods nailed through their legs or abdomen. Women and children have been gang-raped, often in front of their fathers or husbands. Since 1947, Hindu population in Bangladesh has been reduced from 25% to less than 10.5% because of the terrible religious persecutions and atrocities. Hundreds of temples have been desecrated and statues destroyed; thousands of homes and businesses looted or burned. 

The Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, which was the traditional abode of the Buddhist Chakma and other tribes, has undergone total metamorphosis due to forcible occupation of tribal lands and settlement of lakhs of Muslims there. Bangladeshi Army which manages the affairs of this area continues to indulge in never-ending genocide of the tribal population. 55,000 Chakma refugees have taken shelter in Tripura for the last many years. The Chakmas demand that they should be first restored their alienated lands and then be given full security. In taking back the Chakma refugees, no positive measures have come from Bangladesh. On the other hand Bangladesh raised the question of influx of Rohingiya refugees from Myanmar loudly to get international aid and assistance and to send them back to Mayanmar.

With an area of 1,44,000 Sq. Kms. and a population over 120 million, Bangladesh has the highest density of population in the world - 750 persons per Sq. Km. Being 1/25th of India in size and 1/7th in population, its density of population is almost three times that of India. The rate of growth of population in Bangladesh is so high that according to a report by the Government of Bangladesh, by the year 2017 its population would be 240 million. In Sept. 1994 Bangladeshi Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, cancelled her visit to Cairo to attend the International Conference on Population and Development under the pressure of Muslim fundamentalists in her country who are dead opposed to family planning. With a dearth of land and resources, the state is unable to support the increasing population.

The increasing pressure of population on land has caused the illegal infiltration of more than 20 million Bangladeshi Muslims into India. Today, despite the fencing, across the border, migration of Muslims takes place, wherever the population is similar. Linguistic and cultural affinity in West Bengal provides a protective armour. It is interesting to note that the whole of Jaintia hills border has not yet been fenced, but there is no migration across the border here as the population here is mainly tribal.  As a result of this massive illegal migration ten districts of Assam (out of 23) have become Muslim majority or near Muslim majority districts. In 56 constituencies of West Bengal, Muslims have a decisive voice. The population in the border districts of West Bengal had risen by 30 percent as against 17 percent in South Bengal districts like Bankura. Muslim population in West Bengal has increased from 5118269 in 1951 to 11743259 in 1981, as against Hindu population of 20751412 in 1951 to 42007159 in 1981. Thus in 1951 there was 1 Muslim to 4 Hindus, whereas in 1981 the ratio was reduced to 1:3.5. With the dual factors of high natural growth of Muslim population and massive infiltration of Muslims from Bangladesh, it will not be long before this ratio gets reduced to 1:1. During the last three decades the illegal migration has extended to several other states in India. Delhi has today an illegal migrant population of more than 10 lakhs. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh too, have settlements of Bangladeshis residing illegally in India. 

Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators have demanded second partition of India. This new country will be called "Muslim Bango Bhoomi" which will comprise large parts of West Bengal, Bihar and Assam and finally be merged with Bangladesh. Bangladeshi intellectuals have started claiming all the North Eastern States of India ( Assam, Meghalya, Arunachal Pardesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura), as the natural hinterland to accommodate the ever expanding Muslim population of Bangladesh. In West Bengal Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators have forcibly grabbed houses and land belonging to Hindus and driven them away. 

The Congress-I and CPI(M.) Governments are strongly supporting the cause of the Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators in order to strengthen their vote banks. Over a period of the last many years a substantial number of Bangladeshis were issued ration cards and were enfranchised. They have also been enrolled in the electoral rolls of their respective border states on the basis of ration cards issued to them. In 1998, the West Bengal election department had evidence that the state was sheltering lakhs of illegal immigrants with active help from the Left Front administration. The department took away the voting rights of nearly 2 lakh people because they could not prove they were Indians. 

Bangladesh took full advantage of these opportunities. In this context it is interesting to note that a group of intellectuals in Dhaka have been seeking to legitimise the migration of its people into the adjoining North-Eastern region of India by invoking a theory of lebensraum or living space. Daily newspapers in Dhaka have been publishing write ups on these lines written by University professors. Such articles are written with a view to motivate the people to cross over with the aim that one day India's North-Eastern region will be added to Bangladesh giving it a natural boundary in place of the present one. Such write ups and comments not only instigated an anti-India feeling in Bangladesh, it also advocated Bangladeshis right to migrate to India. 

The pushing of millions of Bangladeshi Muslims into India is fraught with the gravest of threats to our very existence. This threat is criminally compounded by some sections of the Indian media, Indian political leadership and India's bureaucratic elite. They have not only been minimizing the enormity of the crisis but also doing everything in their power to push it under the carpet. The national media has failed to highlight the gravity of the problem. Withholding of information about the ongoing demographic disaster caused by the millions of Muslim migrants from Bangladesh is an unforgivable crime.