Kolkata: The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal has directed all district magistrates to set up holding centres for “suspected illegal foreigners and foreign prisoners awaiting deportation or repatriation”. The order specifically mentions Bangladeshi and Rohingya people.
The notification, it says, is in line with guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Wire Hindi reported earlier this year that in its response to a Right to Information request on January 23, 2026, the Union home ministry said that it does not have any centrally-available data regarding the identification, arrest, or deportation of infiltrators in the country.
According to an official communication issued by the Home and Hill Affairs Department, districts have been asked to take necessary steps for housing individuals identified as staying illegally in the country, including those who have completed prison sentences and are awaiting deportation. The directive instructs authorities to act as per the MHA framework on deportation and repatriation procedures for Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya people found residing illegally in India.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had multiple times in the course of his election campaign said that he would remove “Muslim foreigners” and “Bangladeshi infiltrators” from Bengal.
In December 2025, Adhikari had led a protest delegation to the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata, where he told reporters that Bangladesh should be “taught a lesson like Israel taught Gaza”.
As The Wire has noted before, Adhikari has claimed, without evidence, that there were 15 million “infiltrators”. The BJP’s campaign heavily used the bogey of “Bangladeshi infiltrators”.
In addition, deletions under the special intensive revision of voters by the Election Commission, conducted just before the assembly elections, has heavily favoured Muslims, especially those in the border areas, leading to concerns over whether the voter roll deletions will mean eventual deportations in Bengal.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
