BJP will replicate Assam model in Bengal to expel infiltrators, says party chief

The Bharatiya Janata Party will replicate Assam’s “detect, delete and deport” model to expel “Bangladeshi infiltrators” in West Bengal if voted to power in the state, PTI quoted party chief Nitin Nabin as saying on Monday.

Nabin was referring to Assam’s strategy of identifying suspected undocumented immigrants, deleting their names from electoral rolls and deporting them.

The comment came ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, which are expected to take place in April or May.

Since April 2025, the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asking them to prove that they are Indian citizens.

Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

On Monday, speaking at a rally in Islampur in West Bengal’s Malda district, Nabin claimed that the model will be implemented “wherever these foreigners are eating into the rights of our own citizens”, the news agency reported.

Referring to the recent deletion of voters in West Bengal as part of the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls, the BJP chief claimed that the Election Commission had taken away the voting rights of “more than 50 lakh Bangladeshi infiltrators” in the state.

On Saturday, the Election Commission published the electoral roll for West Bengal, indicating the exclusion of more than 61 lakh voters.

However, the process continues with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining “under adjudication” based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

“If names of 50 lakh Bangladeshis weren’t deleted by the EC, then the Centre’s welfare schemes, meant for the people of Bengal, would have benefited the infiltrators,” PTI quoted the BJP chief as saying on Monday.

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In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has repeatedly claimed that the state government was committed to ensuring an “infiltration-free” Assam, claiming that about 35 to 40 “illegal” immigrants were being “pushed back” every week.

On February 11, Sarma also claimed that lakhs of “doubtful voters” had been removed from Assam during the special revision of electoral rolls. Several of these deletions had taken place based on complaints filed by workers of the ruling BJP, he added.

The poll panel conducted the special intensive revision of the voter lists in 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal. However, the poll panel had conducted a special revision of the voter list in Assam, which was similar to the usual updates to the electoral roll.

On January 27, Sarma claimed that four lakh to five lakh “Miya” voters would be deleted when the special intensive revision takes place in Assam, and said that the BJP government had “made arrangements” to preliminarily prevent them from voting.

Critics had said at the time that Sarma had “brazenly expressed his government’s intent to send objection notices to the ‘Miya’ people” to ensure that lakhs of them are deleted from the voter list.

In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to refer to undocumented immigrants and is exclusively directed at Muslims of Bengali origin. They are often accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.

Once a pejorative in Assam, from the common use of the honorific “Miya” among South Asian Muslims, the term has now been reappropriated by the community as a self-descriptor to refer to Muslims who migrated to Assam from Bengal during the colonial era.

On February 10, the Election Commission published the final voter list for Assam. An additional 2.4 lakh names were deleted in the final list after 10 lakh voters were removed from the draft released in December.

BJP promises to rename Islampur

At the rally in West Bengal on Monday, Nabin announced that the Hindutva party would rename Islampur town as “Ishwarpur” if it comes to power in the state.

“We will fulfil your dream of renaming this place Ishwarpur because this has been the land of Rajbanshi reformer Thakur Panchanan Barma, the last Hindu king of Bengal, Lakshman Sen, and revolutionary freedom fighter Purna Chandra Das,” PTI quoted him as saying.

The BJP chief also accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of “deceiving” West Bengal by indulging in the politics of appeasement.

“We have to take court’s permission to hold [the Hindu festival of] Kali Puja in Bengal, but Mamata Banerjee has given unconditional consent to offer namaz on roads at any time of the day or year,” the news agency quoted him as claiming.