Immortality of the Vision: How Gandhi Can Guide the Future of India’s Refugee Policy

Abstract

Seeking asylum or refuge is a right belonging to non-citizens to repair the damage done when the protection of one’s own government fails (Hanna-Mari Kivistö, “Rights of Non-citizens: Asylum as an Individual Right in the 1949 West German”, 9 Contributions to the History of Concepts 61 (Summer 2014).). India is one of the major refugee-receiving countries in the world, handling refugee issues ever since the mass migration triggered by its partition in 1947, and continues to accommodate refugees from its South-Asian neighbours even today. However, India is not a party to the Refugee Convention, 1951 and does not have a domestic legal policy to specify the rights and treatment of refugees. It has been dealing with them through temporary legislations and the existing legal framework, which does not recognise refugees as a separate category. The absence of a refugee policy coupled with the conflicting judicial decisions on refugee rights creates a legal grey area which enables rule by executive decree. Therefore, the legal framework concerning refugee protection in India needs codification, which would eliminate uncertainty while addressing humanitarian concerns on refugee rights. To guide the formulation of a policy on refugees in India, Gandhi’s political philosophy becomes relevant due to its emphasis on sarvodaya which means, “progress of all”, satyagrah which means truth force and the idea of dharm which is duty. In this backdrop, this chapter explores how these core concepts of Gandhi’s political philosophy and his experiences with refugees during the partition of India in the 1940s can contribute as guiding principles for future refugee policy by interpreting Gandhi’s ideals in the practical realm of refugee rights.