The fate of illegal Muslim Rohingya migrants in India appears to be hanging in the balance as the Indian government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are caught in an argument over accommodation and security, according to local Indian media reports. 

The argument comes at a time when Myanmar is marking the fifth anniversary of the Myanmar military’s “clearance operations” that drove over 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh to escape the violence. India has small enclaves of Rohingya migrants or refugees whose status in the country is “illegal”. 

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have been taking a hard line on the illegal Rohingya migrants, aiming to round them up and deport them. 

AAP spoke out Wednesday against India’s Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri's tweet that Rohingya refugees will be shifted to apartments in the Indian capital, New Delhi, the Deccan Herald reports.

Puri had said the Indian government or Centre planned to resettle around 1,100 Rohingya, currently living in tents in the Madanpur Khadar area of the national capital, to flats with basic facilities and round-the-clock security in another part of Delhi.

“India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision, all Rohingya refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in the Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs and round-the-clock Delhi Police protection,” Puri announced in his tweet. “India respects and follows the United Nations refugee convention 1951 and provides refuge to all, regardless of their race, religion or creed.”

The BJP joined the criticism. Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party's national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia described the Rohingyas as a “threat to national security”.

The ministry stepped in to clarify the situation following the political parties’ criticism.

In a press release and Tweet, a spokesperson for the Home Affairs ministry issued the following:

“With respect to news reports in certain sections of the media regarding Rohingya illegal foreigners, it is clarified that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has not given any directions to provide EWS flats to Rohingya illegal migrants at Bakkarwala in New Delhi. Government of Delhi proposed to shift the Rohingyas to a new location. MHA has directed the Government of Delhi to ensure that the Rohingya illegal foreigners will continue at the present location at Kanchan Kunj, Madanpur Khadar as MHA has already taken up the matter of deportation of illegal foreigners with the concerned country through the Ministry of External Affairs. 

“Illegal foreigners are to be kept in the Detention Centre till their deportation as per law.  The Government of Delhi has not declared the present location as a Detention Centre. They have been directed to do the same immediately.”

At this point, the Indian government appears intent on deporting the Rohingya to Myanmar, though it is unclear as to where they would be sent, and how this process would be handled. 

The debate in India is taking place as UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet visited the Rohingya refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. She said that it remained unsafe for Rohingya refugees to return to their homes in Myanmar. Nearly a million members of the mostly Muslim minority live in a sprawling and squalid patchwork of refugee settlements near Bangladesh's southern coast.

Five years later, the refugees in Bangladesh refuse to go back without guarantees for their safety and rights in Myanmar. 

Sources: Deccan Herald, Times of India, Mizzima, AFP