'They are not Bangladeshis': Mamata says Bengal migrants wrongfully held; slams BJP

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Tuesday that Bengali migrant workers speaking their native language outside the state were being "labelled as Bangladeshis and sent to Bangladesh".

Accusing the BJP of "playing politics over language", the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said many such cases come to her notice and that her government has brought the workers sent to Bangladesh back.


"People from every section live in our country. This is India’s secular tradition... but the BJP is doing politics based on language... The migrant workers from Bengal are taken to other states for work because of their skills, but when they speak in the Bengali language among themselves, they are labelled as Bangladeshis and sent to Bangladesh. Many such cases have come to us, and we have brought them back (from Bangladesh)," the West Bengal CM was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

She futher said: "Another such case has come from Rajasthan, where 300 to 400 people have been labelled as Bangladeshis. What is happening? They are not Bangladeshis, they have their own identity, they are residents of West Bengal, and West Bengal is a state of India."

Centre steps up crackdown on illegal Bangladeshis

Last month, as many as 121 suspected Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended in a week and sent to a detention centre in a fresh, widespread crackdown to curb illegal immigration.

The 121 had allegedly crossed the border illegally a few years ago and were working as ragpickers or doing odd jobs in Delhi.

During the investigation, police also detained five Indians who provided the suspected Bangladeshis accommodation on rent. These people were questioned to determine their role in facilitating the illegal stay of the foreigners.

Last week, thirty-six people, believed to be Bangladeshis residing in Delhi illegally with no travel documents, were held in Bharat Nagar in the north-west of the city. The Delhi police said mobile phones that contained banned messaging apps, which allowed them to communicate with relatives in Bangladesh, were found on them.

Centre vs state over illegal Bangladeshis
In January this year, Mamata Banerjee had accused BSF of allowing illegal border-crossing by Bangladeshis into the state as part of a "central government blueprint", alleging the infiltration was politically motivated to discredit her government.

"The border is not guarded by TMC or police; it is guarded by BSF," she said.

"They are facilitating infiltration, allowing criminals to cross the border, commit murders, and escape. I will write a strong letter to Centre about this issue."

In response, BSF expressed disappointment over the allegations but refrained from escalating the matter. "We are a responsible force performing our duty at the border. Statements like these dent our morale," said Nilotpal Kumar Pandey, spokesperson for BSF's South Bengal Frontier.

Later in March, Union home minister Amit Shah, while replying in the Lok Sabha on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of obstructing border security efforts by not providing land for fencing and showing mercy to infiltrators.

He said, "The fencing work of 450 km is pending because the West Bengal government is not giving land for it... Whenever the process of fencing is done, the ruling party workers indulge in hooliganism and religious sloganeering. The fencing work of 450 km of border has not been completed because the West Bengal government is showing mercy to the infiltrators."