Let me add my two cents to the following points made by Dr. Jiten Roy and Mr. Subimal Chakrabarty:
JRoy on February 1, 2012: "Most of them (Bangladeshis whose homes would be under water due to the rising seas) will probably be brain-washed anti-Indian or down-right communal cadres of BNP/Jamat. What can India do with such unwanted guests? I do not envision a happy ending."
SChakrabarty on February 2, 2012: Why do we assume that most of them "will probably be brain-washed anti-Indian or down-right communal cadres of BNP/Jamat?" Why can't we see them as the distressed humanity?" "My brother is sinking and I am worried that he will share and pollute my cousin's home! This cannot be the line of thinking."
SBain: I share Dr. Roy's concerns. "brain-washed anti-Indian" is a reasonable assumption. The ground reality of Bangladesh has been like that for most of its lifetime of over 40 years. The second largest political party of Bangladesh, BNP, has never been shy to show that it is anti-India. The largest political party, Awami League, also found it necessary to show that it was anti-India, in order to try getting enough votes. Although, over the last few years Awami League has gotten better; they are now trying to project that they did not have to be anti-India in order to be genuinely pro-Bangladesh.
"Down-right communal cadres" is also a reasonable assumption. After all, BNP did win an election in 2001 by using slogans like "If Awami League came to power, azan in the mosques would be replaced by ulu-dhwani." Imagine how insulting it was for the innocent and non-violent and mostly poor and powerless Hindus of Bangladesh! If Bangladesh had a shortage of anti-Hindu communal bigots, this kind of slogans would have caused revulsion there, as opposed to an election win for BNP.
I think the real point is, the distresses that Bangladesh could face due to the rising seas would be managed better if the population there were friendly to India and to the non-Muslims, including the Hindus.
Talking about 'brother' and 'cousin', I would not make that distinction here. After all, most of the free-thinkers of Mukto-Mona realize that the way Bengal and India were partitioned in the first half of the last century was wrong, even though we all realize that the ground reality now would not allow political reunions. (I personally would not support reunions until Bangladesh becomes as secular as India.) Again, the bottom line is, in a crisis in the future, life in the subcontinent would be less painful if Mr. Chakrabarty's 'brothers' were used to having brotherly feelings for his 'cousins'.
Sukhamaya Bain
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"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
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