The effect of the 1962 Sino-India border war on Chinese in India
In this 150 birth anniversary of Rabindra nath Tagore, one of the most profound poem is the one in which he had expressed his dream of what the new and awakened India should be.
Where The Mind is Without Fear / Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo
WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
- Rabindranath Tagore
The present events in this country has the support of millions of its citizen has open a gape in the door of confidence in most of us. This is environment is unimaginable a few years ago. People suffered and fearful was contented to service with their mind ever on the alert rather than having confidence to give their mind and hands to be in the march forward.
The suffering of the Indian Chinese people caused by the Indo China Border war was not of common knowledge, Till date people who suffered try to escape the fear by pretending it had not happened orby running away but keeping it deep in their hearts.
The following except is from “ An oral History of Deoli Camp : a treatie by Kwai li .
“Even now, I react instinctively and want to avoid talking about the 1962 Sino-Indian Incident because of this subconscious fear.
It happened at Tim Hortons when I sat down with Liu, Hua and Chen for our interview. We froze when we saw two South Asian men in uniform at the next table —they turned out to be security guards. Seeing the uniforms as we discussed the 1962 Sino-Indian Incident triggered our fear of Indian soldiers and the anti-Chinese mob: the Indian soldiers who knocked on our doors at midnight to arrest and intern many of us; the Indian soldiers who knocked on our doors to hand out deportation orders; the Indians who taunted ―Mera naam hai Ching Ching Chu…‖ as we ran for home; and the Indian mob who shouted ―Dirty Cheena, go home…‖ before destroying our properties and turning their clubs on us.
A fear that never really goes away. “ (page 79.)
The interview giving below in some way show how much Indian Chinese like to live in India as their homeland, but……
“ I put this question to Ming, Hua, Chen and Liu to wrap up our interviews: ―Would you have immigrated to Canada if the 1962 Sino-Indian Incident had not happened and you were not interned in Deoli?
Ming
I would not have left India if my family and I had not been interned. My dad was doing so well in Digboi. Imagine putting five kids in expensive schools! He visited us often. At that time, I don‘t think the transportation system between Digboi and Shillong was very developed. I think my dad took an airplane when visiting us. My dad loved managing his catering and restaurant businesses. He lost everything when the Indian government interned us in Deoli Detention Camp.
When we returned to Digboi after our release, my family lost confidence in the Indian government. We had a rough time when my dad died. We emigrated as soon as we were able. To go back to your question: no. Our family would not have left India if we had not been interned and had not lost everything we worked hard for.
Hua
I would not have left India if I had not been interned. The internment robbed me of the chance to finish my education. Without a good education, there was nothing for me in India. I couldn‘t work in my father‘s business because the Indian government destroyed the business when he was arrested and interned my family and me. I couldn‘t get a good job in India. I needed a good education for that. So I emigrated. At least in Canada I got a job that gave me a good standard of living and also my children got a good education here.
Chen
I would have left India regardless. My father worked hard and we had a reasonably good living. I left school when I was 12 years old to work in my father‘s shop. But in the end, my family was
left with nothing when my father died in Deoli Detention Camp. All his hard work in the shop came to nothing. I worked really hard after my family and I were released from Deoli, and I made an okay living, but, well, in India, I would not have had the opportunity to travel. In India, I would not have earned enough to travel. The rupee is so weak compared to other currencies. My wife and I are going to China for a month. I am not sure I could have done this if my family and I were still living in India. Besides, most of my brothers and sisters are in Canada now. My second youngest sister emigrated in the 1980s and married a Chinese here in Scarborough. Then we followed. I definitely would have left India.
Liu
I would not have left India. Our family earned a very good living in Darjeeling. We had the hotel, the restaurant and the shops—more than enough work for the whole family. The government finished our businesses off when it put the whole family in the detention camp. When our family was released, the Indian government would not allow us to return to Darjeeling. It was a sensitive area. We were released in Calcutta. The government returned our properties in Darjeeling to us, but there was no way for us to operate our businesses there. We were now living in Calcutta.
The government had leased our businesses in Darjeeling to a couple of Indians. We had no way of checking on our businesses or collecting rent or collecting money owed to us. Chinese people could not leave the town or city spelled out in their residency permits. When we were released, we were officially living in Calcutta. My father could not get a permit to visit Darjeeling, so we did not know what was happening to our businesses. I think my father eventually got permission to go to Darjeeling for a week at a time. Then later he was allowed to visit for a longer period. It was hard. My older brother now owns a hotel and restaurant in Darjeeling.
Sure, I would have stayed in India. India was better than a lot of places at that time. In India, it was so easy to start a business, like a hairdressing salon, restaurant or shoe shop. You did not need all that much money to start your own business. It was good for the Chinese in India. The 1962 Sino-Indian Incident and the Indian government‘s response really wrecked us. The new laws restricted us from doing our business.
I had many Cantonese friends. Like me, they were third- or fourth-generation Chinese. My Cantonese friends‘ families were mostly in woodworking businesses, tea plantations, tea and furniture factories and the shipyards. Most of these places were supposed to be government-owned businesses. As the Indian government passed laws that banned Chinese from government jobs, my friends‘ fathers lost their jobs. So they went to China. Some of my Cantonese friends owned their properties. These properties were taken over by the Indian government. I don‘t know why the Cantonese went to China, as most of them did not look like Chinese, dressed like Chinese or speak Chinese. When my Cantonese friends left for China, the Indian government confiscated their businesses, businesses that were started by their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. It was just so sad.
***
Liu‘s Cantonese friends may yet get their properties back. Under the 1962 Defence of India Rule, the Indian government confiscated 80 properties belonging to Chinese residents who were deported or immigrated to China after 1962. The Indian government also seized 2,068 properties in the 1965 India-Pakistan War from Muslims who left for Pakistan. The Indian government had declared these Chinese and Muslim properties as ―enemy property‖ and managed it under the Custodian of Enemy Property law enacted in 1968.
On July 9, 2010, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put forward a bill in parliament to amend the 1968 Enemy Property Act. If passed, the bill will release the ―enemy property‖ to their legal heirs ―when certain conditions are met.
The bill caused a furore. The opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — Indian People‘s Party, opposed the amendment. The BJP traditionally supports Indian nationalism and ―…believes properties of people who had migrated to Pakistan should not be handed to any heirs.‖ (Mohan, 2010)
A BJP Member of Parliament argued that ―Pakistan has had a similar law (controlling the properties of Indians who had returned to India) and no property was ever returned to anyone in that country.‖ (De, 2010) Pages 821, 83.) “
These are posted to created awareness and if possible to heal the scares and fear in order that the harmony and understanding will be removes the fear and may the one and all regain the respect and peace once exist.
PS : The detail interview will be posted at the later date
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