Over and out

With detention centres, deportations and tighter border controls, the BJP government aims to turn back illegal migrants from Bangladesh

- BY PREMA RAJARAM

For decades, the flow of people along the India-Bangladesh border was largely in one direction.

Undocumented migrants crossed into West Bengal seeking work, security and better opportunities. Today, that movement is being reversed.

Hundreds of Bangladeshi nationals are making their way back to their country through the Hakimpur check post in North 24 Parganas district as the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government has intensified its campaign against illegal immigration. The government has bolstered the drive with detention centres, deportations and an ambitious border-fencing programme, arguing that illegal immigration poses a serious challenge to national security and governance.

Many migrants who had hoped to weather the Special Intensive Revision exercise now believe their time in India has come to an end. Masuda Begum was among those who believed she could build a life in India. That confidence proved short-lived. “I came after SIR started as I was told there was no problem. But now the government has passed a law and we have to follow that,” said Begum, as she prepared to return to Bangladesh.

Taslima Khatoon, another Bangladeshi national, too, has resigned herself to leaving. Working as a domestic help, she said she was aware that the new government would take a stricter approach to illegal immigration. “That is why I am going back to my country,” she said, adding that enforcement had not been as stringent during the years of Left Front and Trinamool Congress rule.