In November 2023, GoaChronicle told you, in a detailed report, about how the Hindu immigrants from Pakistan live a life full of hardships, in a settlement in Kali Beri in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur. These Hindus, who do not even have the right to be called ‘refugees’ in India, left their jobs, family members, their sense of settlement, and the land they belonged in, only to protect their religious identity.
Even though the Hindu immigrants from Pakistan continue to combat all the difficulties they are facing, being in India; the Universal Just Action Society (UJAS), founded by Hindu Singh Sodha, remains to be a beacon of hope and happiness, as the NGO supports Hindu immigrants from Pakistan, and advocates for Pakistani immigrants in India who are fleeing religious persecution, and who, despite escaping dangers in Pakistan, are still denied basic human rights in India.
Among these are the rights to citizenship, rehabilitation, livelihood, and education. UJAS’ mission is to aid these refugees from Pakistan in obtaining justice by raising awareness, empowering refugee communities, and pressuring the government to provide them with legal rights.
Similar to supporting the Kali Beri settlement, UJAS has been assisting Hindu immigrants from Pakistan living in the Anganwa settlement, situated in Jodhpur itself. The Anganwa settlement is the newest one, built in the year 2011, and has been witnessing the coming of Hindus from Pakistan, escaping religious persecution and pathetic living conditions in the country, since then.
Amongst a population of around 1200 people living in the settlement at Anganwa, only 10-15 people have received the Indian citizenship, that too recently, with the assistance of UJAS and Hindu Singh Sodha; while all of the rest are non-citizens.
Speaking with Sonakshi Datta of GoaChronicle, the immigrants at Anganwa stated, ‘There are rampant settlement issues here, but Hindus from Pakistan continue to migrate because we cannot abandon Sanatana Dharma. But while we left our everything just to protect our religious identity, us facing trials and tribulations is an everyday affair. There are no basic amenities here.’
‘There is no water supply, no electricity, no toilet construction, no roads, and no government initiative implemented here. The governments, both at the central and the state levels, are absolutely of no help. We survive, surrounded by poisonous creatures like scorpions and snakes, which results in a number of deaths around here. The condition of the lanes is such that ambulances cannot even enter the settlement, which becomes a huge problem if someone falls ill suddenly’, the immigrants continued.
The rugged lanes at the Anganwa Settlement
A Kuccha house, fallen and built multiple times
The settlement-dwellers further revealed that because of the lack of a drainage system, the presence of poisonous creatures, and the absence of basic resources, illness is rampant; but the immigrants continue to survive in sub-human conditions by getting engaged in labouring activities, farming, working at shops, at construction sites, or at cotton fields.
Cleanliness issues at the settlement
Water tank built by immigrants
Speaking of the dilemma these immigrants face in their everyday lives, one divulged, ‘On the one hand, we are merely “Kafirs” to the Pakistanis, and on the other, while we try to merely survive here, the government pays no heed to our calls of distress or our demands, and even worse, the Hindus of India, living nearby, call us names, hurl abuses at us, and for them, we continue to remain “Pakistanis”. Despite India being the land of Hindus, nobody here has accepted us as their own.’
Even though life at settlements like Anganwa and Kali Beri is excruciating, the Hindus from Pakistan are driven by only one thing, their most prized possession- their Dharma, Sanatana Dharma, and the spirit of Hindutva. Therefore, come what may, they are not ready to abandon their religious identity, even if that means surviving with less than the bare minimum.
A male calf at the settlement (While Hindus in India abandon, sell their cattle once they’re old, or it’s a male, immigrants at Anganwa give such cattle shelter)
And as UJAS keeps on fighting the battle of winning the immigrants basic human rights, a beautiful feather in UJAS’s and Sodha’s cap is the construction of a school for the children at Angwanwa. The school was built some 4-5 years ago, and has 65 students studying there, with 3 teachers catering to the educational needs of the young kids, whose eyes brim with hope and happiness, as their parents have faith in the power of education to carve a better tomorrow.
Outer wall of the school built by UJAS
On the flipside, not everyone could exist in the conditions which are the stark reality of being an unrecognised, unaccepted, shunned, and abused Hindu immigrant in this so-called ‘land of the Hindus’. At Anganwa, as the immigrants stated, 100-150 people are all set to leave India and go back to Pakistan, which would leave them with two options- either to commit suicide or convert to Islam.
In such circumstances, the burden of responsibility falls directly on the shoulders of Hindus in India and the government. While millions of illegal Bangladeshis, Rohingyas, and even innumerable illegal Pakistanis continue to thrive in this country, which has been turned into a free ‘Dharamshala’, why is it that India cannot become a safe haven for those who wish to simply survive with dignity, earning two square meals a day, without posing internal-security threats?
And as far as the Hindus of India are concerned, even if you call such immigrants ‘Pakistantis’, remember, they are much braver and determined than you are.
While hundreds and thousands of Hindus are converting their religion just because they were offered huge sums of money, or because their dharma, to them, was ‘uncool’ and ‘regressive’; these brave Hindus literally left the land that was their own, for centuries, a comfortable life, and everything that comes along, only to live and die as proud Hindus, with Bhagwa flags soaring high inside each kuccha house they have built inside the settlement, and with beautifully adorned Mandirs inside each home, in front of which, they bow their heads, only in the hope that one day, Bharat, the land which they reckon is their own, would accept them with open arms, full of love, and full of respect.
