After years of dithering, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government asked states to identify and deport Rohingya Muslims.

Thereafter, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan petitioned the Supreme Court questioning the centre's directive. While the centre told the Supreme Court yesterday (14 September) that the Rohingya cannot stay in India as they are a threat to national security, there are civilisational issues which need to be spelt out.

First, a background on the people that India gave refuge to.

Centuries before the Indian Constitution came into existence, persecuted communities like Parsis, Jews and Syrian Catholics were given refuge by Indian rulers.

The fourteenth Dalai Lama and his Tibetan followers fled to India in 1959. They were given refuge because India and Tibet are tied by Buddhism and the centuries-old cultural and spiritual ties. It did not matter that India had not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention.

When Idi Amin threw Indians out of Uganda around 1972, many Gujaratis chose to return to their homeland, India.

Due to atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan, there was a flow of refugees into West Bengal in 1971.

There was large-scale migration of Sikhs due to the violence that broke out after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

India has given refuge to the persecuted.

Having said that, it is important to note that India was divided on the basis of religion in 1947.

Pakistan was meant to be the home of those subcontinent Muslims who chose to live in a theocratic state, while India was for the followers of Dharma (Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, referred to as FoD subsequently), Muslims and Christians among others. The post-partition Indian Muslims and Christians are at least ready to co-habit and co-exist with the FoD.

Next, what happened to the FoD who stayed in Bangladesh and Pakistan?

Their population has continuously fallen in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). It was 23 per cent in 1951, 14 per cent in 1974, 11 per cent in 1991, 10 per cent in 2001 and 9.3 per cent in 2011. Anyone will know that their constant persecution is the reason for their exodus.

More recently, Chakmas (Buddhists) and Hajongs (Hindus) are in the news because the government has decided to give them citizenship rights. They faced religious persecution in East Pakistan and entered India through the then Lushai Hills district of Assam (now Mizoram).

In Pakistan, the population of the FoD (formerly West Pakistan; before that part of undivided Punjab) was 15.9 per cent in 1901; it went up to 19.7 per cent in 1941, came down to 1.6 per cent in 1951 and settled at a meagre 1.8 per cent in 1998.

The fall in population of the FoD in the two neighbouring Islamic countries symbolises their state.

Conversely, let us at look at the Muslim population in India.

Table A: Religious Composition From 1951 to 2011*