Reshma Malik (name changed) sits amidst the stench of garbage heaps in southwest Delhi’s Rangpuri, her hands sorting through waste to find anything useful.
“They arrest Bengalis, falsely frame them as Bangladeshis, and only let them go after extorting Rs 30-40,000,” she alleged.
Reshma, 46, migrated from West Bengal’s Katwa to Delhi 15 years ago in search of a better life. She works for a contractor working with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and segregates waste to support her family.
Like Reshma, Rangpuri is home to migrants from various places, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha. Rag picking and waste segregation are among the primary occupations here.
On December 29, 2024, the Delhi police detained eight Bangladeshi nationals from Rangpuri for lacking documentation. This crackdown followed lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena’s December 10 order for a two-month drive to identify and act against undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants.
The arrests sparked panic among Bengali Muslims, many of whom, despite living in India for decades, fear being profiled on the basis of their language and lack of proper documentation.
Given the breakdown of industries in Bengal, there is no option for Bangladeshi immigrants but to go on long journeys elsewhere, as is the case for many Indian Bengalis.
A heap of garbage at Bengali Tola, where Reshma works. Photo: Unzila Sheikh.
Political blame-game
As the Delhi assembly elections approached, both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensified their anti-immigrant rhetoric. The then-incumbent AAP’s anti-immigrant views were reflected in December when the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education directed schools to ensure “strict admission procedures” and the “verification of students’ documentation” to prevent undocumented Bangladeshi migrants from being enrolled.
“Schools must ensure strict admission procedures, verification of students’ documentation to prevent illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ enrollment, implementation of greater scrutiny to detect and prevent unauthorised admissions of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in particular,” read the circular.
On February 3, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra cited a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) report, alleging that illegal migrants in Delhi are “thriving under the AAP’s patronage.”
The report, released just two days before the assembly elections, claimed that an influx of Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants had significantly increased the Muslim population in Delhi and the National Capital Region, altering the capital’s socio-political and economic landscape.
Claiming that Bangladeshis had taken over jobs meant for Purvanchalis – people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar – the BJP spokesperson said, “Behind all this is political protection, particularly from AAP and the Congress.”
JNU vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit clarified that the report was an Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) project involving scholars from JNU and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
However, the report’s first page stated it was “presented” by JNU.
The ICSSR is the top government body overseeing research in the social and human sciences and operates under the Ministry of Education.
The report, which was reportedly published even as it was incomplete, is being criticised as academically compromised.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath further fueled the debate, accusing the AAP of enabling undocumented immigrants to obtain Aadhaar cards. “Bangladeshi infiltrators are being provided with Aadhaar cards … in the houses of AAP leaders,” he claimed.
A BJP campaign van in Rangpuri. Photo: Unzila Sheikh.
‘If a government-issued document isn’t proof, what is?’
Bengali Muslims in Rangpuri claimed that the police often question the validity of their Aadhaar cards.
“Police often question if our Aadhaar cards are real and have detained a few people despite them showing it. If a government-issued document isn’t proof, then what is?” asked Reshma.
“It has become very difficult to prove who among them are illegal immigrants. Almost all of them have their basic documents ready. This is why we rely on common trends [dialect, etc.] found among illegal immigrants we have detained previously and try to trace their places of origin,” the Indian Express quoted an officer as saying.
Meanwhile, deputy commissioner of police (Outer) Sachin Sharma confirmed that “special teams” were coordinating with district foreigners’ cells to verify suspected undocumented migrants.
“If a person is deemed suspicious, police teams are sent to verify their claims in their home states,” he said.
On February 4, the AAP’s Greater Kailash candidate Saurabh Bharadwaj fired back, shifting the blame to the BJP-led Union government.
“The blame should fall on the BJP’s government at the centre, in Bihar and in Uttar Pradesh … Why did they allow so many Bangladeshis in?” Bharadwaj asked, noting that the BJP-led Union government and his AAP government in Delhi had been in power for around the same time.
Beyond the political blame game, xenophobia is taking root among residents. Some insist there are only a few Bangladeshis left in Rangpuri’s Bengali Tola area, while others claim nearly all garbage workers there are Bangladeshi migrants with fraudulent documents.
“A true Bengali wouldn’t touch garbage,” said Bholanath, 50, a Rangpuri resident. “They hold Aadhaar, but if you check their past generations, they are all Bangladeshi. Police arrest them, take 30-40 thousand and let them go. Those who can’t pay stay in jail.” This aligns with Reshma’s allegation that police arrest Bengalis and let them go after taking bribes.
Such anti-immigrant rhetoric not new
The anti-immigrant rhetoric before the election is not novel. During 2014, the BJP launched a highly charged campaign against Bangladeshi immigrants. During a rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “Bangladeshis” will be deported if he comes to power. “You can write it down. After May 16, these Bangladeshis better be prepared with their bags packed,” Modi said in Serampore in West Bengal, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh.
Prior to this, in the 1990s, “Operation Pushback” was launched to “detect and deport” Bangladeshi illegal immigrants from Delhi.
Forty-two years ago on this day, as many as 2,000 (unofficial estimates suggest up to 5,000) Bengal-origin Muslims were killed in and around the central Assam town of Nellie by a huge mob of people from the Tiwa, Koch, caste Hindu Assamese and other local communities, in just six hours.
The carnage, which has been termed by some as among the “biggest instances of sectarian mass violence” in independent India, happened in the middle of the anti-foreigner Assam movement (1979-85) that sought to cleanse the state of “foreigners” or “illegal Bangladeshis” and protect the “indigenous” from the “outsider”.
Nellie was not the only village that saw a massacre that day: thirteen other villages were attacked. The Tiwari Commission report also blamed the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the BJP among others for the violence unleashed on the alleged Bangladeshi people.
It reportedly said,
“The circumstances leading to the disturbances which took place during January to April, 1983 were provided by the fact that when it was decided to hold the general elections, certain sections of public instigated by AASU/AAGSP [All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad] and political parties like, BJP, Janata and Lok Dal and some anti-social elements decided to boycott the election and even resorted to violence to further their objective.”
*DEMAND THE RELEASE OF THE TIWARI COMMISSION REPORT*
42 years ago today, on February 18, 1983, one of Independent India’s worst massacres unfolded in Nellie, Assam. In just six hours, thousands of Muslim villagers, including women & children, were butchered. Their only crime was… pic.twitter.com/qySiIgTnai
— Safoora Zargar (@SafooraZargar) February 17, 2025
‘They say we’re stealing their resources, but we live worse than animals’
India’s immigration laws are dictated by the 1920 Passport Act, the 1946 Foreigners Act and the 1939 Registration of Foreigners Act. Since 1971, lax border controls have allowed millions of Bangladeshi nationals to enter and eventually obtain documents – sometimes by legal means, often not.
However, the government’s stance disproportionately targets Muslim migrants, labeling them “infiltrators”, while other minority groups are classified as “migrants” fleeing persecution.
“We want to go back, but there is war going on, back at home. We are terrified of the ongoing crackdown on [undocumented] Bangladeshi immigrants as the same can [affect] us. They say we are stealing their resources, but look at us, we live worse than animals – no electricity, no water, nothing,” said Shaku Tara, 29, a Rohingya Muslim woman who moved to Delhi’s Shram Vihar in 2015.
Refugee shanties in Delhi’s Shram Vihar. Photo: Unzila Sheikh.
Legal pathways exist for “eligible legal migrants” to acquire citizenship through naturalisation or registration. However, India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol, making the situation precarious for about 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in camps across India as of a 2019 estimate.
Without legal rights, they face constant threats of deportation, hostility and discrimination, fueling the growing xenophobia against them.
As political parties exploit anti-immigrant rhetoric for electoral gains, the consequences extend far beyond politics – they fracture societies and fuel violence. The ‘us versus them’ narrative, rooted in the fear that outsiders are taking away resources, has historically led to bloodshed.
In Rwanda, years before the 1994 genocide, Tutsis were branded as “cockroaches” and scapegoated for economic struggles. This dehumanisation, a key phase in Gregory Stanton’s Ten Stages of Genocide, led to their eventual massacre.
Similarly, in Nazi Germany, Jews were accused of controlling wealth and undermining the nation, paving the way for state-led persecution.
When a group is portrayed as a threat to jobs, housing or security, it fosters resentment, making violence seem justifiable. In India, branding entire communities as “illegal infiltrators” echoes these patterns, pushing them into the margins and setting the stage for deeper social unrest.
Unzila Sheikh is a freelance journalist and first-year convergent journalism student at Jamia Millia Islamia. She primarily covers politics and minority issues with a focus on in-depth reporting.
