'Begin with Sheikh Hasina': Asaduddin Owaisi on deportation of 'illegal Bangladeshis' from India

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said if the government wants to deport “illegal Bangladeshis” from India, it should begin by sending back former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Why are we keeping that deposed leader (Sheikh Hasina) in the country? Send her back. She is also a Bangladeshi, isn’t it?” Owaisi said at The Indian Express’s Idea Exchange event.

In August 2024, Hasina left Dhaka after weeks of deadly unrest in which more than 300 people were killed.

He said India should “accept the popular revolution” that has taken place in Dhaka and work towards good relations with Bangladesh’s current regime.

“We have one Bangladeshi living in our country and creating problems by giving statements and speeches, and then we have these poor Bengali-speaking Indians from Malda and Murshidabad who were sent from Pune to Kolkata in an aircraft and then dumped in no man’s land,” Owaisi said, referring to recent incidents where Bengali-speaking residents were deported without verification.

Owaisi also warned that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bihar could lead to “genuine” citizens — especially Muslims — being left out of voter lists.

“If SIR happens and names of genuine voters are not included, then questions will be raised about their citizenship,” he said, citing his party’s experience during earlier exercises in Bihar. “If you read the instructions of the Election Commission, it says that if the ERO (Electoral Registration Officer) finds someone suspicious or does not find them after three visits, he can inform the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955.”

Owaisi, who was part of the Operation Sindoor delegation that visited several countries after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, said the government had missed an opportunity to make India’s case more effectively on the global stage.

“Immediately after the May 7 strike, the Indian government should have spoken to international journalists. But they did not, for reasons better known to them,” he told IE.

Owaisi said his delegation was “well received” but countries “asked us why we do not talk to Pakistan”. “We told them we have done that many times and nothing has come out of it… We were able to put forward India’s point of view and dispel the propaganda that India was out to annihilate Pakistan,” he told IE.