India has deported nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party won power in West Bengal last month. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised to “detect, delete and deport” illegal migrants during the election campaign. State Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens have been deported across the border so far. Another 836 people are currently in holding centres, with plans to be deported soon.
The deportation campaign comes amid longstanding political tensions over immigration in the border state. Top Indian officials have referred to migrants as “termites” and “infiltrators”. Critics accuse the BJP of conflating religious identity with illegal migration, which has added to the unease and marginalisation of India’s more than 200 million Muslims.
Relations between India and Muslim-majority Bangladesh soured after a 2024 revolution in Dhaka ended the autocratic rule of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, an ally of New Delhi. A new government was elected in February, and relations have since slowly improved.