ABSTRACT
The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs enables Hindu minorities from neighbouring countries to seek refuge in India on the basis of religious persecution. According to local police estimates, nearly 2,000 Pakistani Hindus migrate to Rajasthan each year on this basis. Pakistani Hindus arrive on short-term visit or pilgrimage visas and subsequently apply for long-term visas and residence permits as a pathway to Indian citizenship.
This chapter brings together data from oral history interviews and household surveys with a discussion of the ideological underpinnings of the various stakeholders that shape refugee-migrant resettlement. I discuss the ways that Pakistani Hindus in India occupy a marginal socio-economic position in terms of their daily materials lives and are central to the construction of a Hindu-India imaginary.
