India is quietly forcing Muslims across the border into Bangladesh, branding them “illegal immigrants.” but Dhaka is calling the expulsions a breach of agreements and basic rights, writes Ridoan Mahbub.
Since the partition of 1947, Indian Muslims have faced relentless challenges — from communal violence and discrimination to systemic marginalisation. Today, a disturbing trend appears to be emerging: the reported expulsion of Indian Muslims.
Over 1,200 individuals have reportedly been pushed into Bangladesh since May, 7 2025, according to Bangladeshi officials.
These expulsions occurred across border points in Moulvibazar, Sylhet and Tripura.
While many of those expelled are believed to be undocumented migrants, credible accounts suggest that some are Indian Muslims.
These individuals — particularly from Assam — have reportedly been misidentified as “illegal immigrants” under India’s ongoing campaign against undocumented foreigners, known as Operation Sindoor.
One such account was reported by the BBC, which profiled Ms. Banu, a Muslim woman from Assam.
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She says she was summoned to a local police station on May 25, only to be forcibly transported to the Bangladesh border along with around a dozen others. There, she claims they were forced to cross over.
Similar testimonies have emerged from Assamese Muslims, many of whom allege they are being targeted not for legal reasons, but for their faith and Bengali heritage, despite having lived in India for generations.
Political rhetoric in India appears to back this trend. As early as 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah described so-called “illegal immigrants” as “termites” and vowed to throw them into the Bay of Bengal.
In a more recent speech this year, he promised that “within a year or two, all these illegal Bangladeshis will be driven out.”
While such statements may be presented as policy declarations, critics say they reflect an underlying anti-Muslim sentiment that has long characterised the BJP’s stance.
In Assam, citizenship has remained a deeply contentious issue. Numerous Indian Muslims there have reported being detained or deported despite holding valid documentation proving their citizenship.
According to the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), nearly ten million Muslims in Assam have been affected by efforts to label them as “illegal,” often resulting in home demolitions or forced evictions.
One of the most high-profile cases occurred in September 2021 during an eviction drive in the Dhalpur-Gorukhuti area of Assam, which displaced around 800 Muslim families.
The government claimed the families were illegally occupying state land, but human rights groups argued that the drive disproportionately targeted Bengali-speaking Muslims — many of whom had lived in the area for decades.
Survivors of the eviction said they were displaced by erosion caused by the Brahmaputra River and had settled in the area legally.
Despite government promises to resettle them, around 400 more Muslim families were evicted in the months that followed.
Bangladesh has expressed growing alarm over the situation. Its border guards have reportedly identified around 100 individuals pushed into the country as Indian citizens and returned them.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser, Md Touhid Hossain, publicly criticised India for sidestepping formal deportation processes, calling the incidents a breach of the 1975 Joint India-Bangladesh Guidelines.
On May 9, Dhaka sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi urging the Indian government to verify identities before taking such actions.
Without a transparent and fair process, thousands more Indian Muslims could face the same fate — expelled from their homes, stripped of their rights, and forcibly pushed into Bangladesh under the pretext of illegal immigration.
As the crisis unfolds, it raises serious questions about citizenship, identity, and the future of India’s Muslim population.
Ridoan Mahbub is a Multimedia Creation student at the Osaka Information and Computer Science College (OIC). He founded “Check The Fact,” a fact-checking organisation dedicated on current affairs related to Bangladesh and India.
