Kolkata: In a bid to avoid being detained at holding areas, hundreds of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have started gathering at border checkposts around West Bengal to get back home since Tuesday.
The BJP government that came to power in West Bengal recently, has begun a crackdown on illegal immigrants. It has announced plans to establish “holding centres” in every district to detain undocumented foreign nationals in pursuance of its long-promised “3D policy” of Detect, Delete and Deport.
Hundreds of families, carrying their belongings wrapped in blankets, were spotted near the Hakimpur check post along the India Bangladesh Border. Hakimpur is about 75 km from Kolkata, in the Basirhat subdivision of the North 24-Parganas district.
The BJP’s state unit posted videos of the gathering on X and wrote: “People have once again gathered at the Hakimpur border area in North 24 Parganas, to return to Bangladesh.”
“Similar scenes were witnessed when the SIR process began. Now, after the opening of holding centres and the tough stance taken by the BJP government against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, fresh gatherings have been reported in the border area,” it added.
Men, women and children arrived at the Hakimpur border point with bags, blankets and trolleys, hoping the Border Security Force (BSF) would push them back across before arrests began, as reported by The Telegraph Online.
“The government has changed in Bengal,” Rabi Sardar, who had been living in Durganagar with his family for around five years without valid documents, was quoted as saying by the media outlet. “Before facing harassment or detention, we decided to return to Bangladesh and begin a fresh struggle for survival.”
The BJP has made it clear that it would crack down on illegal immigrants, who are not eligible to apply for citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, if it came to power in West Bengal.
“Jaldi jaldi bhago, nahin toh jo karna hai sarkar karega (Leave fast, else the government will do what is necessary),” chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had said after an administrative meeting in Kalyani on Tuesday.
“Why should we share our food, homes and resources with foreigners,” he had asked.
Police personnel went to Hakimpur to record details and coordinate with the Border Security Force (BSF). The state government was exploring direct pushback measures in consultation with Bangladeshi border authorities, sources revealed.
Bangladesh had been apprehensive of such an exodus and had put up a brave front. “Bangladesh will take action if push-in incidents occur amid the change of power in West Bengal,” the country’s foreign minister Khalilur Rahman had said in a social media post, which the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) shared on its official Facebook page on May 5, a day after the BJP swept the elections in Bengal.
From daily wage earners to domestic helps, people gathered at Hakimpur insisted on returning to Bangladesh instead of facing detention in India.
