Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

29 July 2025

2-minute read

In its latest crackdown drawing widespread condemnation from the rest of the world, India is unlawfully expelling hundreds of Bengali citizens, many of them Indian nationals, to Bangladesh.

Meenakshi Ganguly, beauty director for South-Asia at Human Rights Watch, stated that the Indian government has “long expressed concern about irregular migration from Bangladesh.” They have now chosen to expel ethnic Bengali speakers, particularly Muslims, without due process and without allowing these individuals to appeal these decisions or to seek legal counsel.

The rounding up and detaining of “Bengali speaking Muslim migrant workers has occurred mostly in BJP governed states,” Ganguly reiterated. Indian nationals who are sent across the border to Bangladesh must wait for family members to establish their identities before being brought back into India. She said that this the procedure must be handled in “a humane way,” following the correct process.

Reports have even come in stating that elderly people are being forced across the border at gunpoint, specifically those from Assam State. In Assam State, the Indian government had initiated a “deeply flawed” program to verify the ethnicity of individuals. The process has been appealed but the government continues to detain people and send them across the border.

The ruling BJP party primarily believes in a “Hindu majoritarian ideology,” pushing forth anti-Muslim sentiment and the greater political agenda that Hindu people and Hindu rights need to be protected. Muslim Bengali speakers are being targeted, whether Indian nationalists or from Bangladesh.  With millions of Bengali speaking Muslims in India, “just to be Muslim and a Bengali speaker does not mean that they’re automatically Bangladeshi,” Ganguly emphasized.

Human Rights Watch is calling for the Indian government to be transparent about identifying and returning irregular migrants; with individuals being given the opportunity to prove their identities and seek legal counsel in a better way. Other countries must also agree to accepting their citizens back. “The world needs to understand that irregular immigration is the reality of today,” Ganguly concluded.

Listen to the full interview here.