Jews and Parsis escaped Roman and Iranian persecution to find refuge in India. They thrived and prospered in India for many centuries. A few left for greener pastures in the last century.
Marauding hordes came from across the Himalayas, committed atrocities and later assimilated into the Indian fold but it never occurred to Indians to banish their descendants.
China convulsed by the Opium Wars, Sino-Japanese wars, and the Boxer rebellion, threw up waves of refugees. Many died like flies, and a few just about made it to India from around 1800 AD onwards, to start from scratch. The latest wave of refugees escaped Japanese rape of China in WW-II to land in Honk Kong, and then on to Singapore. With the Japanese close on their heels, they again had to move to India.
The 1962 Chinese debacle saw them interned and released after 1966 to find their property confiscated. Many moved to Canada, Hong Kong and some even back to Mainland China. The blind-striving by land-deprived peasants in John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' must have seemed like a picnic for these latest set of Chinese refugees.
Indian-Chinese restaurant owners, carpenters, leather workers and a host of others in Kolkata and in northeast India, who were born in India, got a midnight knock in 1962 and told to pack their bare minimum to move to an internment camp in Rajasthan.
Their belongings were confiscated. Though not shoved into cattle-cars, the seven-day journey to Deoli camp, Rajasthan, was not a pleasant one with a few dying on the way.
During the internment, a few signed papers offering themselves for deportment to mainland China. After the 1962 war, China supposedly sent ships to pick them up. For those who chose to stay behind, the end of the internment came after 1965. When they returned to their former homes, they found their properties occupied and their confiscated belongings, which were stored in a shed, looted. They had to report everyday to a police station. The Enemy Property Act applied to the Indian-Chinese people.
Japanese-Americans were interned during WW-II in the US. The German-Americans were spared this treatment. Much later, the US apologised to the Japanese-Americans.
One Ms Kwai-Yun Li who was interned is now a Canadian citizen. She has submitted a thesis which is posted in parts at icucik.blogspot.com. She has interviewed many Indian-Chinese now settled in Canada.
Many Indians' first reaction when they hear about the internment is an incredulous, "It couldn't have happened in India of the Mahatma." They then try and get out of denial mode by saying that censorship must have masked the truth.
The Indian-Chinese numbers are not high enough to count for electoral clout, so it is up to others to shout for them. There have been attempts by the media to highlight the issue earlier, but it has yet to sink into the Indian consciousness.
Marauding hordes came from across the Himalayas, committed atrocities and later assimilated into the Indian fold but it never occurred to Indians to banish their descendants.
China convulsed by the Opium Wars, Sino-Japanese wars, and the Boxer rebellion, threw up waves of refugees. Many died like flies, and a few just about made it to India from around 1800 AD onwards, to start from scratch. The latest wave of refugees escaped Japanese rape of China in WW-II to land in Honk Kong, and then on to Singapore. With the Japanese close on their heels, they again had to move to India.
The 1962 Chinese debacle saw them interned and released after 1966 to find their property confiscated. Many moved to Canada, Hong Kong and some even back to Mainland China. The blind-striving by land-deprived peasants in John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' must have seemed like a picnic for these latest set of Chinese refugees.
Indian-Chinese restaurant owners, carpenters, leather workers and a host of others in Kolkata and in northeast India, who were born in India, got a midnight knock in 1962 and told to pack their bare minimum to move to an internment camp in Rajasthan.
Their belongings were confiscated. Though not shoved into cattle-cars, the seven-day journey to Deoli camp, Rajasthan, was not a pleasant one with a few dying on the way.
During the internment, a few signed papers offering themselves for deportment to mainland China. After the 1962 war, China supposedly sent ships to pick them up. For those who chose to stay behind, the end of the internment came after 1965. When they returned to their former homes, they found their properties occupied and their confiscated belongings, which were stored in a shed, looted. They had to report everyday to a police station. The Enemy Property Act applied to the Indian-Chinese people.
Japanese-Americans were interned during WW-II in the US. The German-Americans were spared this treatment. Much later, the US apologised to the Japanese-Americans.
One Ms Kwai-Yun Li who was interned is now a Canadian citizen. She has submitted a thesis which is posted in parts at icucik.blogspot.com. She has interviewed many Indian-Chinese now settled in Canada.
Many Indians' first reaction when they hear about the internment is an incredulous, "It couldn't have happened in India of the Mahatma." They then try and get out of denial mode by saying that censorship must have masked the truth.
The Indian-Chinese numbers are not high enough to count for electoral clout, so it is up to others to shout for them. There have been attempts by the media to highlight the issue earlier, but it has yet to sink into the Indian consciousness.
