From migration to exodus: Journey of B’deshis as SIR fear grips Bengal

For almost two decades, Anoyara Bibi lived in a shanty with her family of five and worked as a ragpicker at Mahishbathan in Salt Lake near Kolkata.

- Joydeep Thakur

Bangladeshi nationals await their turn at the Hakimpur check post in North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.

(SAMIR JANA/HT)

Since November 17, though, Bibi is stationed under a banyan tree, a few metres from the Border Security Force check post at Hakimpur in North 24 Parganas, barely 500 metres from the India-Bangladesh international border.

The 75-year-old is waiting for her turn to cross the border. Because despite her prolonged stay in India, she is a Bangladeshi citizen. "I am a resident of Satkhira in Bangladesh. I have the documents to prove that I am a Bangladeshi. I came to West Bengal after illegally crossing the border around 20 years ago and now I am going," she said, adding that "I came here with my husband. We never went back. This is the first time I am going back to Bangladesh".

The reason? The controversial special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls underway in Bengal. The SIR-which led to the deletion of 6.9 million names in Bihar and the addition of 2.15 million names-is not explicitly designed or aimed to prove citizenship and only focusses on confirming one's eligibility to be a part of the electoral roll. But Bibi said that rumours were flying in Bengal that the SIR would flush Bangladeshis out. "We heard that the SIR has started and Bangladeshis would be flushed out, so we are leaving... I could not stay here anymore as the SIR was launched," said the illegal immigrant.