Status and identity crisis of the Bihari diaspora in Bangladesh

Urdu-speaking Bihari community was displaced from various regions of India initially after the partition and once again after the independence of Bangladesh. As they are considered Pakistani in a primordial sense, lots of attempts were made to send them back to Pakistan, their ideological home. But due to diplomatic failure and several other reasons, only a few people could repatriate, left majority behind. But they could never assimilate here. As a result, their identity crisis began. The government of Bangladesh, considering their despondent condition, declared them as citizens of Bangladesh. But still there remain difficulties in achieving full functioning citizenship status since they have not fully integrated into the society as a whole. This study aims to reveal the current condition of the Bihari identity crisis and the degree of assimilation to the Bengali society and culture. By adopting a qualitative approach, it took stratified sampling method to collect data. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. 20 people were being interviewed living inside the Geneva camp and outside. The analysis of data revealed that the citizenship status was given for the political purpose, not actually intended for their rehabilitation or well-being; that the citizenship status doesn’t help to eradicate their fear of being treated as “others” or a minority group. Their assimilation to Bangladeshi society and culture, however, deepened very recently. A sense of communal harmony prevails between Bengalis and Biharis, except for a few exemptions. Besides, though both the issues are similar in type, the Bihari has never gained widespread attention like the Rohingya people usually get from the government as well as the international bodies