Assam deports nearly 300 illegal Bangladeshis, intensifies drive to identify illegal foreigners

Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said nearly 300 “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” were pushed back from the state in the last few months.

“We pushed back [into Bangladesh] almost 330 people, and nobody came back. This exercise will be intensified,” he told the 126-member Assam Assembly during a special one-day session on Monday.

Sarma also said that the penetration of “Pakistani elements and Bangladeshi fundamentalists” into Assam had made the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the State more active and proactive than before.

He also said the penetration of “Pakistani elements and Bangladeshi fundamentalists” into Assam had made the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the State more active and proactive than before.

“We pushed back [into Bangladesh] almost 330 people, and nobody came back. This exercise will be intensified,” he told the 126-member Assam Assembly during a special one-day session on Monday.

The chief minister said the State government had decided to put the Illegal Expulsion Act, 1950 into action. “People identified as foreigners by the DCs (District Commissioners) will be pushed back without referring their cases to the (Foreigners’) Tribunals,” he said.

He said a constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that the Illegal Expulsion Act was in force and the government could deal with foreigners or illegal immigrants under its provisions.

On 14 August 2024, while hearing the case of Md. Abul Kasem Ali vs Union of India, the Gauhati High Court chided the state for not arresting individuals declared foreigners by the tribunals, saying, “What is going on? What is the point of this exercise if the government is not willing to carry it to the logical end [of arrest]?

Earlier, the minority-based All India United Democratic Front petitioned Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, protesting the “continued” harassment of Indian Muslims on the pretext of identifying and apprehending “so-called illegal foreigners” in the State.