Although the Supreme Court has ruled that the right to life and liberty are indivisible, regardless of nationality, creed and caste, this does not confer upon any individual or group, especially one whose nationality is doubtful, the right to attack a law enforcement agency. Such an attitude undermines the basis on which governance rests and cannot be tolerated by any government of any political hue. If not tackled firmly, such events could trigger similar confrontations with these communities in other parts of the country.

Neither ‘secular’ or ‘non-secular’ parties can claim they did not know about the influx. The fact is they did nothing to prevent it from happening because they had a vested interest in settling these people—the votes of the migrants.

What is also important about this incident is that many of those arrested later said that they had paid substantial amounts to dalals to get to where they were. So, these people were not only protecting their livelihood but also their investments.

At the end of our boat journey together in Dhubri, Nurul Islam sat at on a chair on the deck, visibly tired, his white hair ruffled by the wind. We were gliding through darkness, heading to the town and Islam was chain-smoking. He was weary but happy from the tour, although it was not a journey which he did neither very often or liked doing.

‘So, have you seen many foreigners?’ he asked with a chuckle. ‘No,’ I replied. I would reserve judgement because none of those we had met would proclaim anything but their Indian-ness. I added the conditions were appalling and needed to be tackled by the government in Dispur. Without development, the chars would become breeding grounds of instability, radicalism and violence. Once that had begun, where would it end?

He nodded.

‘So many rivers go into Bangladesh, it is not practical to restrict people or goods. Everything is going on but innocent people are being harassed. There is seasonal migration; if you have thirty per cent landlessness here you have sixty per cent landlessness there. They come round the year and the local people react favourably to them,’ he said.

Before we pulled into the tiny harbour, he leaned forward to emphasize a point: ‘The Kamatapur Liberation Organisation—we will be in the background, we will give support but will not lead, let the tribals do it.’

A couple of years later, Islam was dead but the idea he spoke of is becoming a reality.