JAKARTA - West Bengal’s new BJP-led government has ordered local authorities to set up holding centres for undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, AFP reported on May 25. The directive came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won power in the eastern Indian state for the first time since independence in 1947.

The order calls for centres to hold “apprehended foreigners” awaiting deportation, according to AFP. The state government has defended the approach under its “detect, delete, deport” principle, saying it targets migrants staying illegally in India.

The order said illegal migration has “security and socio-economic ramifications,” AFP reported. The directive has raised anxiety among West Bengal’s roughly 35 million Muslims, many of whom share linguistic and cultural ties with neighbouring Bangladesh.

India’s legal framework gives authorities power to act against foreign nationals staying illegally. The Ministry of Home Affairs told Parliament in 2020 that the central government has powers under the Foreigners Act, 1946 to detain and deport foreign nationals staying illegally in the country, and that these powers have also been entrusted to state governments. 

The ministry also told Parliament that illegal foreigners whose nationality needs verification may have to wait for deportation until travel documents are issued. During that period, they may be detained in holding or detention centres by the competent authority.

Critics told AFP the West Bengal order reflects the BJP’s hardline stance on immigration. AFP reported that rights activists have accused authorities in Assam of deporting people to Bangladesh without due legal process, often based on ethnic profiling. Activists and lawyers also alleged that some people were pushed across the border at gunpoint.

The Rohingya reference adds a refugee-protection concern. UNHCR said more than 240,000 refugees and asylum-seekers were identified and registered by UNHCR and India’s government by the end of 2024, with most originating from Myanmar and Afghanistan. 

India’s Citizenship Act excludes some groups from being treated as illegal migrants. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 says Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and meet specified exemptions, shall not be treated as illegal migrants for the purposes of the Act.