Hundreds of Bangladeshis lacking the necessary documents to remain in India queued up at the Bithari-Hakimpur border exit in Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday, seeking to return home. This comes amid an administrative push to implement the new BJP government's 'detect-delete-deport' policy targeting illegal immigrants.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari issued a stern warning to all suspected infiltrators, urging them to leave voluntarily or face action. 'Jaldi jaldi bhago nahi toh jo karna hai sarkar karega (Run as quickly as possible or the government will do what it needs to),' he stated after a meeting in Kalyani. He also directed officials to expedite the repatriation process for detainees.
The long queues at the border, reminiscent of the post-Sir (a previous repatriation agreement) scramble, appeared a day after the first two 'holding centres' for detained or imprisoned illegal immigrants opened in Malda and Murshidabad. As groups of Bangladeshis, including men, women, and children, gathered near the Swarupnagar border, BSF sentries detained them pending the formal handover to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Taklima Khatun, a native of Khulna, recounted entering India through the Ghojadanga border two years ago and working as a domestic help. 'I don't want to end up in a holding centre or be pushed back. So, I am willingly returning home,' she said. Most of the returnees had been employed across Kolkata in construction sites, hotels, fisheries, and households. Shahidul Gazi of Satkhira said he entered India three years ago via the Swarupnagar border with the help of a middleman and worked as a mason. 'I have no citizenship documents. Like hundreds of others, I am being forced to leave,' he expressed. Mohammad Ali Sheikh from Jessore, who lived in Kolkata's Metiabruz for about seven years and worked in a hotel, noted, 'After the new government directive (to set up holding centres), I decided to return to Bangladesh.'
The first two holding centres were established within 48 hours of a government circular instructing all district magistrates to arrange facilities for housing illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. By Monday evening, 12 suspected Bangladeshis intercepted in Malda and Murshidabad were moved to these centres. Adhikari stated that there was no need to take illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators to court. 'We have provisions in the law that allow police to directly hand them over to BSF. In accordance with an agreement between India and Bangladesh, BSF will establish whether they are Bangladeshi and hand them over to authorities on the other side,' he said.
Adhikari argued that it was illogical to keep illegal immigrants in jails, providing them with food, clothing, and medicine. 'The law to deport them always existed but some people did not use it because of political interest. We are implementing the law in the interest of the country and the state,' he asserted. A BSF officer explained that once infiltrators are detained, their identities and backgrounds are verified through questioning. Fingerprints are collected and photographs taken before BSF contacts BGB for repatriation.
