“Migrated” means, as I understand it, that they have left their previous homes permanently and have now come to live in India. Suppose people who were living in Sylhet after the Radcliffe Award shifted to Assam or Bengal. What will their position be if Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava’s amendment is accepted ? Again, take the people who, say, entered a province after 1943, say in 1944 or 1945. They have not had the time to get naturalised in this country, and them will be a large number of such people. What will their position be if Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava’s amendment is accepted ? The amendment that he has proposed will raise many difficulties that he has not thought of. It will probably raise difficulties with regard to the position of the people who have migrated from East Bengal to West Bengal. It will be very difficult for these people to prove that they have left their homes in Eastern Pakistan because of civil disturbances or fear of such disturbances. There are millions of non-Muslims still living in Eastern Pakistan. How will these people then be able to prove that there was any justification for their fears that civil disturbances might break out. The House will thus see that Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava’s amendment, instead of removing any real difficulty, will create many more difficulties of a more serious character. I do not think, therefore, that it can be accepted.
