India’s Bengal pushes out Muslim Bangladeshis, deepening religious tensions

Hakimpur, India – Raisul Islam stands nether the scorching prima adjacent a checkpoint successful Hakimpur colony on the borderline with neighbouring Bangladesh successful the North 24 Parganas territory of India’s West Bengal state.

His wife, Rebeka Khatun, 36, and their 2 sons, Riad, 14, and Jubair, 16, are sitting adjacent astatine an unfinished gathering erected with earthy bricks and cement, arsenic the brutal vigor and humidity, coupled with an lack of potable water, crook the cramped waiting country into a furnace.

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The radical crammed into the gathering are Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, who person been branded “illegal infiltrators” and brought to the borderline colony arsenic portion of a “detect, delete and deport” argumentation launched by the authorities authorities headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which stormed to power successful West Bengal for the archetypal clip lone a period ago.

The Hakimpur crossing on India-Bangladesh borderline successful West Bengal authorities [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]

India shares a 4,096km (2,545-mile) onshore border, the world’s fifth-longest, with Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority federation with humanities and taste ties to India, including a communal connection spoken by millions of Muslims and Hindus connected some sides of the border, and a century-long past of migration of chiefly impoverished workers betwixt what is present Bangladesh and West Bengal, Assam and different Indian states.

But aft its sweeping triumph successful West Bengal, location to astir 100 cardinal people, the state’s BJP authorities ordered a crackdown to hint undocumented Muslim migrants, portion it besides announced the operation of “holding centres” to detain and yet deport them backmost to Bangladesh.

That thrust has sparked fears not conscionable among Bangladeshi migrants, but besides among sections of Indian Muslims successful West Bengal that they excessively could find themselves victims of a run that the authorities has made wide is driven arsenic overmuch by the spiritual individuality of its targets arsenic by their ineligible status.

In the summertime of 2025, Indian information agencies successful the neighbouring authorities of Assam — besides ruled by Modi’s BJP — forcible sent dozens of Indian Muslims crossed the borderline into Bangladesh, accusing them of being undocumented immigrants. Bangladesh sent them back, leaving them temporarily stranded successful no-man’s land. They were yet admitted backmost into India — but ne'er received immoderate explanation, permission on justice, for the ordeal they were enactment through.

Now, a twelvemonth later, fears are increasing that the aforesaid could hap successful West Bengal.

Search for amended livelihoods

Like galore astatine the Hakimpur borderline checkpost, 38-year-old Islam, who hails from Satkhira territory successful Khulna part of Bangladesh, had travel to India successful hunt of a amended livelihood.

“We had travel present 2 years agone for the attraction of my wife, who is suffering from a tegument disease, but decided to settee down aft uncovering amended wages present arsenic compared to Bangladesh,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Islam said helium paid astir $250 – a important magnitude for him – to a tout who arranged the borderline crossing for him and his family. They arrived successful authorities superior Kolkata, wherever they rented a country connected the city’s outskirts. The mates worked arsenic masons, earning astir $10 a time betwixt them.

Raisul Islam, left, stands with his household astatine Hakimpur, West Bengal, India [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]

But their lives changed precocious past period aft West Bengal state’s recently elected Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari ordered the deportation of undocumented Bangladeshi migrants, an workout his party, the BJP, has already conducted successful respective states successful the past decade.

Adhikari’s menace came with a caveat, though: The eviction would lone people Muslim Bangladeshis, with Hindus and migrants from different faiths exempt nether a arguable law amendment that imposed a spiritual trial connected asylum seekers for the archetypal time.

The Bengal main curate besides made wide that authorities would not fuss to instrumentality those detained to tribunal earlier deporting them. In December 2025, India’s Supreme Court had declared that overseas nationals person astir nary rights nether the Indian constitution. In effect, nether the West Bengal government’s approach, the onus is connected those astir to beryllium deported to beryllium wherefore they should not beryllium sent to Bangladesh.

As a result, thousands of radical person been rounded up crossed West Bengal successful the past 2 weeks and either sent to detention centres oregon driven to the borderline by information forces to beryllium “pushed back” into Bangladesh.

Islam said helium did not hold for the authorities to find him and his family.

“We decided to surrender voluntarily, fearing harassment by the locals and the constabulary for being an migrant settled illegally here,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Several different migrants gathered astatine the Hakimpur borderline station narrated akin stories of economical hardships successful Bangladesh that forced them to prosecute touts and transverse the borderline – galore without ineligible documents.

Mirazul Ghazi, 42, told Al Jazeera helium entered India, on with his woman Sabina Yasmin, 36, and their lad Nayem, 18, 5 years agone successful hunt of amended opportunities. The mates worked arsenic operation workers successful Kolkata and earned astir $12 a day, until the authorities crackdown forced them to instrumentality home.

“We didn’t look immoderate contented during the past 5 years till the caller authorities came to powerfulness and the landlord asked america to vacate the premises. We decided to return, fearing attacks connected america by the locals,” Ghazi told Al Jazeera.

Mirazul Ghazi, right, with his woman Sabina Yasmin and lad Nayem astatine Hakimpur [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]

Situated astir 80km (50 miles) from Kolkata, Hakimpur and different border checkpoints crossed West Bengal person been witnessing a regular watercourse of Bangladeshi migrants since the extremity of May.

A constabulary serviceman posted successful Hakimpur told Al Jazeera connected information of anonymity due to the fact that helium was not authorised to talk to the media that astir 250-300 undocumented refugees and migrants person been arriving regular astatine the checkpoint, wherever authorities, too verifying their citizenship, are besides signaling their biometric details to make a integer grounds of the fig of migrants.

Speaking to reporters successful Kolkata connected Sunday, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Adhikari said astir 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens had been deported, adding that his authorities has besides “established holding [detention] centres successful each districts of the state”.

“From these centres, 4,800 Bangladeshi infiltrators person already been deported truthful far,” helium said. “Another 836 radical are presently successful the holding centres … we are making arrangements to deport the 836 soon.”

Diplomacy strained with Dhaka

Historically robust relations betwixt New Delhi and Dhaka suffered a setback successful 2024 erstwhile a youth-led gyration successful Bangladesh ended the agelong and autocratic regularisation of the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was a adjacent state of India.

The convulsive uprising forced Hasina to instrumentality exile successful the Indian capital, portion repeated requests by Dhaka to extradite the person convicted of crimes against humanity person been ignored by New Delhi, adding to the tensions. Earlier this year, a caller authorities led by an anti-Hasina conjugation was formed successful Bangladesh, which is trying to mend the strained ties.

But the West Bengal crackdown has caused caller diplomatic tensions betwixt the neighbours, with Dhaka calling for an adherence to established procedures to verify the nationality of undocumented migrants.

On Monday, Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Shama Obaid told a quality league successful Dhaka that they person sent “12 to 13 letters to New Delhi” implicit the issue.

“There is simply a mechanism” that Indian authorities should follow, she said, arsenic she warned that the crackdown connected Bangladeshi migrants could impact relations betwixt the 2 countries.

The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) besides said it thwarted astatine slightest 18 attempts by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) to propulsion astir 180 migrants crossed the borderline into Bangladesh since June 4. On Monday, the 2 forces began their three-day talks implicit the West Bengal deportations.

Responding to an earlier disapproval by Dhaka of India conducting “illegal push-ins” of Bangladeshi migrants, Indian overseas ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters past week that a “bilateral mechanism” was already successful spot betwixt the 2 countries.

“All overseas nationals successful India, if they are present illegally, including from Bangladesh, we person laws to woody with them, and they volition beryllium accordingly dealt with,” Jaiswal said connected Friday.

“And erstwhile we notation these cases to the Bangladeshi side, for them to verify the nationality of these people, and erstwhile it is verified, past we instrumentality guardant the deportation process,” helium added.

Jaiswal said New Delhi has sent “several oregon galore of these requests,” which stay pending with the Bangladeshi side. According to media reports, India’s overseas ministry has shared details of much than 2,800 suspected Bangladeshis with Dhaka for nationality verification.

A detention centre successful West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas territory [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]

Rights groups, meanwhile, person termed India’s determination arsenic “completely unethical”.

Elaine Pearson, Asia manager of Human Rights Watch, a planetary nonprofit, said she was “deeply concerned” astir the existent concern successful West Bengal.

“Even the detainees without immoderate valid documents should beryllium fixed ineligible practice truthful that nary Indian national is wrongfully expelled from the country,” she told Al Jazeera, calling the deportations “illegal”.

Deportations stoking spiritual tensions

The deportation of chiefly Muslim Bangladeshi migrants is besides stoking spiritual tensions successful West Bengal, which erupted aft the BJP’s emergence to powerfulness successful a authorities wherever 27 percent of its colonisation is Muslim.

For decades, the BJP has campaigned against Bangladeshi migrants, with national Home Minister Amit Shah, Modi’s closest aide, calling them “termites” during an predetermination rally successful Assam, different BJP-governed borderline authorities wherever millions of Bengali-origin Muslims reside, and person faced a akin crackdown.

Though India is location to tens of thousands of Buddhist refugees from Tibet, and Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, the BJP has consistently singled retired Muslim migrants – the Bangladeshis and the Rohingya – implicit their religion. In 2017, much than 700,000 chiefly Muslim Rohingya fled a genocidal run by the Myanmar military, with an overwhelming bulk of them taking refuge successful confederate Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, and a tiny fig of them uncovering refuge successful respective Indian cities, including New Delhi.

The BJP’s targeting of Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants ties successful with the party’s larger argumentation of marginalising and persecuting India’s 200 cardinal Muslims successful bid to crook a constitutionally secular state into an taste Hindu state.

Rights activistic Teesta Setalvad said the Indian authorities are “acting lone connected a preconceived docket and rhetoric” against a peculiar community, accusing the authorities of not pursuing its ain guidelines portion acting against undocumented migrants.

“Sadly, cops are picking up radical randomly and putting them successful detention centres and trying to propulsion them backmost arsenic if they are a commodity. We fearfulness that individuals would beryllium detained illegally successful the holding centres,” she told Al Jazeera, demanding the authorities instantly merchandise information connected the undocumented migrants housed successful assorted detention centres successful West Bengal arsenic good arsenic connected those “pushed out” to Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, successful Hakimpur, arsenic dusk falls and the prima begins to vanish down the gangly coconut trees, Islam turns tearful arsenic helium stands adjacent to some his sons.

“We took structure successful India conscionable to springiness a bully beingness to our children. We had nary ulterior motive. But the incessant hounding and humiliation by a conception of radical has forced america to instrumentality with bitter memories of a onshore that teaches non-violence and kindness for all,” helium said.

Moments later, a radical of information forces bundles the household wrong a conveyance and takes them to a detention centre 18km (11 miles) away.