A fresh administrative push on illegal immigration has prompted several undocumented migrants in West Bengal to head towards the Bangladesh border amid uncertainty over their future.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out raids in South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya as part of a nationwide counter-terror operation connected to the Al-Qaeda Gujarat terror conspiracy case, which involves illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
He further accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party of spreading misinformation to malign the SIR exercise.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed for backing Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in India, calling her stance “misleading in the name of humanity.” His remarks come amid Assam’s eviction drives against encroachers and pushback of undocumented migrants.
Notably, in a separate operation, five Bangladeshi immigrants, including three minors, who entered illegally via river routes near the Indo-Bangla border, were arrested by the East District Police.
The Delhi Police, in two separate crackdowns on illegally staying foreign nationals, detained 18 Bangladeshi immigrants, 16 from Seemapuri in Shahdara and two from Mandawali village in East Delhi, police said on Monday.
Three migrant labourers from West Bengal — two from Birbhum district and one from East Burdwan — have been detained in Gujarat on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
The arrests were made based on an intelligence input about the foreign nationals illegally staying in the area under the jurisdiction of the Jahangirpuri police station.
The Delhi Police got their hands on seven Bangladeshi immigrants who had entered the country illegally through river routes on the India-Bangladesh border, it said on Monday.
The attack on actor Saif Ali Khan has also brought the issue of illegal immigrants, especially from Bangladesh, in the forefront and sparked a political debate.
