Indian MP Urges Govt. to Help Starving Muslims

The erosion of River Padma has displaced thousands of Indian Musli

By Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL Correspondent

NEW DELHI, May 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – An Indian lawmaker on Tuesday, May 10, asked the federal government to offer a hand of assistance to thousands of Muslims starving to death in the Murshidabad district, West Bengals.

“Today our country talks about sending a mission to the moon and we claim that we are self-sufficient in food but it is so sad that from time to time we hear about starvation deaths of adivasis and suicides by farmers,” Rajya Sabha, an MP for Samajwadi Party, told parliament.

He hit out at the government for collecting huge funds for the tsunami victims, while doing nothing to the people of Murshidabad.

The lawmaker asked the central government to immediately send a fact-finding team to the area, issue below-poverty-line ration cards, compensate the victims with money and new pieces of land, and fortify the eroding river bank to stop further deterioration.

With the exception of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM), no party opposed his proposals.

Fact-finding missions sent by two Muslim organizations, Zakat Foundation of India and Markazul Maarif, revealed on March 27 that Murshidabad Muslims were starving to death due to the erosion of lifeline River Padma in the area.

The erosion has devastated vast swathes of fertile land, leaving about 5,000 people in six villages facing starvation and displacing up to 25,000 others.

The government inaction has drawn string criticism from local newspapers, which accused authorities of papering over the reported catastrophe.

Court Petition

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday referred a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the pressing issue to the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission.

A bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice SH Kapadia directed the registrar of the Supreme Court to send a copy of the writ petition to the commission.

The judges advised the petitioner that state-level efforts should be exhausted before coming back to the apex court for remedial measures.

The petition was filed by India’s The Milli Gazette newspaper to force the central and state authorities to work for the long-term rehabilitation of the affected population.

Murshidabad used to be the capital of Muslim Bengal before the advent of the British colonial rule.

It was so prosperous and rich that Lord Clive, the commander of the British invasion troops, described it as bigger than London and had more rich people.

Two centuries of British loot and half a century of local misrule, including two and a half decades of communist rule, have impoverished the state.