INDIA has deported nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in West Bengal last month, according to official figures.
The BJP won the election in the eastern border state after campaigning on a promise to “detect, delete and deport” illegal migrants.
Following the formation of the new government, authorities ordered the setting up of detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingya refugees across the state.
West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said in Kolkata on Sunday that nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens had already been deported.
“We have started the work of deporting Bangladeshi infiltrators who do not fall under the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Act,” Adhikari said, adding that the government had “established holding centres in all districts of the state” in May.
“From these centres, 4,800 Bangladeshi infiltrators have already been deported,” he added.
“Another 836 people are currently in the holding centres... we are making arrangements to deport the 836 soon,” Adhikari said.
India shares a long border with Bangladesh, where migration has historically been linked to economic conditions and family ties across both countries.
The deportation campaign comes amid longstanding political tensions over immigration in West Bengal.
Senior Indian officials have previously referred to migrants as “termites” and “infiltrators”.
Critics have accused the BJP of increasing unease among India’s more than 200 million Muslims and of linking religious identity with illegal migration.
Rights groups have also accused India of pushing hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process.
Relations between India and Bangladesh worsened after the 2024 revolution in Dhaka that ended the rule of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who later fled to India.
Bangladesh elected a new government in February, and relations between the two countries have since improved slowly.
Border force chiefs from India and Bangladesh are scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Monday.
