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ANU College of Asia and the Pacific<br>
South Asia Seminar<b style=""><span lang="EN-US"><br>
<br>
Friday
19 October, 10–11.30am, Seminar Room 1.13, Coombs Extension
Building (8),
Fellows Rd, ANU</span></b>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-US">Nationalist Discourse and
the ‘Other’: How Delhi’s
Elites View Bangladeshi Migrants in India</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-US">Dr Rizwana Shamshad,
Monash Asia Institute (MAI),
Monash University</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-US">This paper investigates
the perceptions of
Bangladeshis as articulated within the paradigm of Indian
nationalist
discourse. Unofficial estimates of Bangladeshis in India range
from 2 million
to 35 million “illegal” migrants, although the Bangladesh
government denies the
existence of any “illegal” migrants in India. In the early 1990s
Bangladeshi
migrants in India became a major political issue in the
aftermath of the
demolition of the Babri Mosque. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party
(BJP) used the issue of Bangladeshi migrants as one of its major
election
campaigns in the 1990s. Since then the presence of Bangladeshi
migrants has
been a persistent election platform for the BJP and its
associated sectarian
political parties. Based on interviews with key political party
and civil
society actors in Delhi, I argue that there is a link between
the negative
perceptions of Bangladeshis in India and the mistrust of Indian
Muslims, who
are seen as the threatening ‘Other’ and whose loyalty to the
Indian nation is
questioned by Hindu nationalist parties in India.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-US">Biography</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN">Dr Rizwana Shamshad has
recently been awarded a
PhD from Monash University. For her doctoral research she
investigated Indian </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"
lang="EN-US">nationalist discourses and Bangladeshi
migrants in three states in Assam, West Bengal and Delhi</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN">. She has previously worked
with
the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a key policy focused
research institute
in Delhi on India-Bangladesh Security Dialogue. She also worked
with the
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), a major policy think-tank
in Bangladesh.
<span style=""> </span>Her research interests include</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-US"> ethnicity and
nationalism, migration and
identity politics, India-Bangladesh relations, and climate
refugees in South
Asia.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 51,
51);" lang="EN"></span></p>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Barbara Nelson
College of Asia and the Pacific | Australian National University | Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
T: + 61 2 61250283 | F: + 61 2 61255525 | CRICOS Provider #00120C
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