The Indian state of Assam has been embroiled in a heated controversy over the treatment of Bengali-speaking Muslims, with allegations of forced deportations(pushback) to Bangladesh and human rights abuses.
Hundreds of Muslims have been pushed back into Bangladesh since May, according to state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has vowed to intensify the crackdown.
Ufa Ali, a 67-year-old bicycle mechanic, was among those affected. After being picked up by police, he was taken to a detention center and later forced to cross into Bangladesh. Ali described the ordeal as “hell underneath the blue sky,” where he and others were left stranded in knee-deep water with no access to food or shelter. “We saw life fading away from us,” he said.
The crackdown has been justified by the Assam government as a measure to expel “illegal” Bangladeshis. However, many of those affected claim they are Indian citizens and have been unfairly targeted.
Rahima Begum, a 50-year-old woman, was beaten by Bangladeshi border guards when she tried to return to India. “I had no escape. The BSF said they would shoot us dead if we did not move to the other side,” she said.
The controversy has sparked widespread condemnation, with human rights groups and opposition parties accusing the government of selectively targeting Muslims.
Apoorvanand, a professor of Hindi at the University of Delhi, said, “Muslim identities in any form are synonymous with terrorism in India under the BJP government.” The government’s actions have also been criticized for violating India’s secular constitution.
The Assam situation has its roots in the British colonial past, when large-scale migration of Bengali-speaking workers led to ethnic tensions with the Indigenous natives. Today, authorities in Assam use a cut-off date of March 24, 1971, to determine citizenship, and those who cannot prove their residency before this date are often declared “foreigners” and face deportation.
Many Muslims pushed towards the Bangladesh border have pending citizenship cases, and their lawyers argue that the government’s actions are illegal and arbitrary.
“The government treats Bengali Muslims as illegal Bangladeshis,” said Debabrata Saikia of the Congress party. BJP spokesman Manoj Barauh denied the exercise was religion-based, claiming that undocumented Hindus were not pushed to Bangladesh due to potential persecution.
The controversy has sparked fears of a wider crackdown on Muslims in India, with reports emerging of similar actions in other BJP-governed states.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the actions, saying, “Just because they speak Bengali, they were labelled Bangladeshis and sent to Bangladesh.” As tensions escalate, the international community is watching closely, with concerns about human rights abuses and the treatment of minority groups in India.