Crackdown on Bangladeshis: Hindu refugees feel the heat without docus, CAA still a mirage

Time of India

18-07-2025

Nagpur: With many states, including Maharashtra launching a crackdown on infiltrators from Bangladesh, the Bengali-speaking Hindus who fled the restive country to escape religious persecution are feeling the heat.
"We were part of the exodus from erstwhile East Pakistan. Then there was another surge of refugees even after Bangladesh was formed, many of whom were settled in the forested areas of Gadchiroli. We Hindus escaped the communal cauldron to find refuge in India, and now we are being hounded again by police. We feel helpless when asked to prove our credentials in the ongoing drive against illegal Bangladeshis," said Subodh Biswas, national president of Nikhil Bharat Bangali Samanbay Samiti — a nationwide guild of Hindus from erstwhile East Pakistan.
With many tossed in detention camps across states, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to file an affidavit, explaining the rationale behind the action.
Most importantly, despite being Hindus, they cannot become Indian nationals through the
Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA) due to lack of documents, say Samiti leaders. The law opened doors to minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to become Indian citizens, but majority Hindus who fled Bangladesh under trying circumstances in the dead of night failed to carry documents with them.
Biswas, who is based in Nagpur, told TOI that Bengali-speaking Hindus are now in a spot. "Maharashtra police are demanding documents to prove our nationality, which not many can produce," he said, adding hundreds of Hindus continued to stream into India even after Bangladesh was formed and most of them joined their community members in refugee camps and settlement zones in Gadchiroli.
"They could have simply applied under CAA, but documents that need to be submitted include credentials from Bangladesh, which most Hindus don't have.
They fled the country under compelling conditions and often to escape death. Who will help them retrieve the papers now," asked Biswas.
This makes them vulnerable to police raids. There have been arrests in Maharashtra too. Two migrant workers were arrested in Akola and continue to remain in custody. There was another arrest in Nashik — the person was in India for 50 years, he says. Biswas said the Samiti has demanded that CAA conditions be relaxed for refugees.
He also shared a letter issued by the police in Kanker district in Chhattisgarh, appealing to local villagers to share information on Bangladeshi infiltrators. Like Gadchiroli, settlement camps were also established in Chhattisgarh after the 1971 war. Manoj Mandal, the Samiti representative at Pakhanjur town of Chhattisgarh, said the state has also issued a toll-free number for locals to report on the whereabouts of Bengali-speaking people.
This has created troubles for many Hindus. At times even personal scores are being settled.
In Odisha, where detention camps were set up, said Nimai Sarkar, a former MP and now the state president of the Samiti. "Hindus fled for their lives and did not carry anything. How can they be expected to submit documents if they apply under CAA," he asked.
A CAA applicant can put up any document like a birth certificate from Bangladesh, a passport, or even a paper that proves the applicant's grandparents were citizens of that country, said a source handling the cases.