Latest news with #BharatiyaJanataParty-ruled
Scroll.in
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
8 detained in Delhi as ‘illegal' migrants after opting for India in 2015 enclave exchange, released
Eight residents of West Bengal's Cooch Behar district, who were detained in Delhi on the suspicion of being 'illegal' Bangladesh migrants, were released on Tuesday. They were members of families who had relocated to India in the 2015 enclave exchange between India and Bangladesh. All eight were detained by the police on Monday from a brick kiln in Haryana during a drive against undocumented migrants, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest Delhi) Bhisham Singh told The Indian Express. They were released on Tuesday, their family members told Scroll. The release came after the eight migrants produced their resident cards issued by the West Bengal government and other relevant documents, Singh added. Those who were detained were identified as Samsul Haque and his brother Rejaul Haque, Muhammad Rayhan Haque, Muhammad Rabiul Haque, and his wife Rashida Begum, the newspaper reported. Rabiul's three children were also detained. Their family members told The Indian Express that all eight are from Dashiar Chhara, a former Indian enclave in Bangladesh. They had moved to an apartment complex in Cooch Behar's Dinhata area made exclusively for enclave dwellers who had come to India after the exchange in 2015. Their release came the police in Cooch Behar district police contacted their counterparts in Delhi. Samirul Islam, chairperson of the West Bengal migrant welfare board, claimed that such detentions were happening daily to migrants from the state. He alleged that police in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states and in Delhi do not bother to inform the state government about such cases. 'We, on our own, have made verifications and sent them the requisite documents,' The Indian Express quoted Islam, also a Trinamool Congress MP, as having said. 'In this case, the district administration got in touch with the Delhi Police authorities.' He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had welcomed the families to India after the enclave and exclave exchange in 2015. 'Now they are being detained as illegal Bangladeshi citizens,' he was quoted as saying. 'And that too in the national capital.' The exchange of enclaves and exclaves took place on August 1, 2015. Under this agreement, 111 Indian enclaves covering 17,160 acres inside Bangladesh were transferred to Bangladesh, while 51 Bangladeshi enclaves occupying 7,110 acres in India became part of India. The residents of these enclaves were given the option of accepting citizenship of either country. At least 921 residents opted to move to the Indian side. The incident came as Indian authorities have been pursuing a policy to force individuals claimed to be undocumented migrants into Bangladesh. In June, four men from West Bengal, who were forced into Bangladesh on allegations of being undocumented migrants, were brought back. India has pushed back more than 2,000 persons into Bangladesh since the country launched ' Operation Sindoor ', a military operation in May against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The legality of the 'push back' policy has been debated in India and internationally. Experts have told Scroll that the policy violated India's obligations under international law and customary international law.
Hindustan Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
400 Bengali migrant labourers tagged as Bangladeshis, being held in Rajasthan: Mamata Banerjee
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the Bengali-speaking people from the state were being tagged as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and rounded up by the police in some Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee meets the assembly marshals allegedly injured during a scuffle with BJP legislators during the monsoon session in Kolkata on Tuesday. (ANI) 'We have received information that 300-400 people from Itahar (in north Bengal's Cooch Behar district bordering Bangladesh) have been rounded up and forcibly held inside a house in Rajasthan. They were branded as Bangladeshis because they speak Bengali although they showed their Indian identity documents,' Banerjee told reporters at the state assembly complex. 'I will bring this to the notice of the Prime Minister. People who speak Bengali are being illegally pushed back to Bangladesh by BJP-ruled states,' the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson said. The chief minister alleged that bona fide citizens of West Bengal are being selectively contested in BJP-ruled states. She said: 'Anybody who came from Bangladesh after March 1971 (when the nation was born) is a bonafide Indian citizen. If speaking Bengali is a crime then let the Centre ban the language that (Rabindranath) Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose spoke. We have 15 million migrant workers in Bengal. People from other states work here as well. Is that a crime? Similar incidents have happened in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra.' Mosaraf Hussen, the TMC legislator from Itahar, alleged that those allegedly held by the Rajasthan administration are kept in a house named Ambedkar Bhawan at Bhiwadi city, which was part of the National Capital Region (NCR). Hussen said he brought the matter to the notice of the chief minister on Tuesday. 'A man from Itahar somehow managed to call me from Rajasthan and informed me that these men are being forcibly held inside a house named Ambedkar Bhawan. They were not allowed to contact the police. I sought the chief minister's intervention,' Hussen said. The allegation was levelled days after the West Bengal police helped a migrant worker and his wife return home after they were declared illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by Maharashtra police and deported to the neighbouring country by the Border Security Force (BSF). Fazal Mondal and his wife Taslima, who are residents of North 24 Parganas district, were arrested on June 10 from the Naya Nagar area in Mumbai and deported to Bangladesh on June 14, the family told the media. The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) returned them on June 16. On June 15, three migrant workers from Murshidabad district and two from East Burdwan district managed to return to India. These men were held by Mumbai police on June 12 and the BSF deported them on June 14. They, too, claimed that they were arrested despite showing documents such as Aadhaar and PAN cards. BSF has not commented on these incidents or responded to emails sent by HT in this connection.\ Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bengal BJP unit, said action was being taken against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in non-BJP ruled states too. 'Such arrests are being made in Tamil Nadu as well although it is not a BJP-ruled state. The identity documents carried by a section of Muslim, Bengali-speaking migrant workers have been found to be fake in all the states where the administrations have cracked down on illegal immigrants. I informed several Bengal ministers about this,' Bhattacharya said. 'Secondly, by making these allegations, Mamata Banerjee and her party are spreading hatred against people from other Indian states, especially those who speak Hindi. Many migrant workers from these states have told us that they are being stigmatised,' he added.
The Print
07-06-2025
- The Print
As ‘tip-off' leads to meat shop raid in Haryana's Nuh, man & son booked on Bakrid eve for ‘selling beef'
Rakesh Kumar, Sub Inspector at Tauru City Police Station, said that a case has been filed against them based on the Gau Raksha Dal's complaint. 'Samples from the recovered meat have been sent for lab analysis, and further investigation is underway. We are keeping a close watch to maintain peace in the area,' he said. Police said they seized 41 kg meat from the spot near a mosque in Pataudi Chowk area of Tauru locality, and booked Maamdeen and his son Nadeem, both residents of Shikarpur. The two fled the scene as police arrived, and remain absconding. Gurugram: There was an uneasy calm in Haryana's Nuh district on Bakra-Eid Saturday, a day after the police raided a makeshift meat shop near a mosque after a complaint by two members of Gau Raksha Dal who had received a 'tip-off', and booked a father-son duo on the suspicion that they were selling beef, banned in the BJP-ruled state. The Muslim-dominated district had witnessed communal violence in December 2023. What the complaint said Sunny, a member of Gau Raksha Dal and resident of Tauru's Ward No. 8, and his companion Monu lodged a complaint with the police on the basis of a 'tip-off' they had allegedly received. According to the complaint, the father-son duo allegedly sold beef. They would transport cow meat on their motorcycle and sell it near a hotel close to the mosque, it claimed, adding that they brought the meat to their shop Friday as well, unloaded it, and were in the process of selling, when they spotted the complainants. After this, they abandoned the meat, scales, weights, and other tools, and fled on their motorbike, the complaint said. Police went to the scene and recovered approximately 41 kilograms of suspected 'beef' packed in a plastic sack, along with a knife, scales, and other equipment. While it remains unclear whether the seized meat is indeed beef or meat of any other animal, the Gau Raksha Dal members claim they have concrete information confirming it as cow meat. The seized meat has been sent to a laboratory for testing, and further action will depend on the lab report, police said. A large crowd of locals gathered at the site, but the mob was dispersed and the situation is under control, according to police. The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Haryana banned cow slaughter through the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015. It provides for rigorous imprisonment ranging from three years to 10 years for killing the animal. In his complaint, Sunny alleged the accused duo used to regularly supply beef to a hotel near Pataudi Chowk. Based on this, the Tauru City Police Station registered a case against Maamdeen and Nadeem under Sections 13(1), 13(3), and 17 of the act. Section 13(1) deals with the offence of cow slaughter and selling beef. It entails rigorous imprisonment not less than three years, which may extend to 10 years, and a fine not less than Rs 30,000, which may extend to Rs 1,00,000. Section 13(3) also deals with punishment for such offences. Section 17 outlines the legal procedure for taking cognisance of offences under the Act. The incident has sparked outrage among residents, especially given its timing—the occasion of Bakra-Eid—and raised concerns about potential tension in the area. However, police vigilance ensured the situation remained under control. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: Haryana is the hotbed of gau raksha influencers and crimes of religious passion
The Hindu
21-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Power sharing across States
Federalism and inter-State relations are making headlines these days, and some for good reasons. Congress-ruled Telangana has in recent months entered into agreements with Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Odisha and Rajasthan and Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh to meet its power demand, which is growing faster than earlier projections. The State is particularly looking to expand the share of renewable energy in its total generation, prompting it to go all the way to Himachal for hydro power and to Rajasthan for solar power. Both Rajasthan and Himachal are looking for more opportunities to optimise their potential to produce more power than they require internally, from solar and hydro sources, respectively. On the one hand, these agreements reflect inter-State cooperation. On the other, they reflect policy continuity at the national level, from previous regimes to the current Narendra Modi government, that enables this. 'Measures taken by Dr. Manmohan Singh made inter-regional and inter-State transmission of power easy and manageable through the national grid,' said Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. The Government of Telangana, through Singareni Company Collieries Limited (SCCL), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RVUNL, a Government of Rajasthan-owned company, to form a joint venture company with the purpose of developing 1,600 MW thermal energy in Telangana and 1,500 MW solar energy in Rajasthan, with an investment of ₹26,200 crore. SCCL will have a 74% equity share and RVUNL will have a 26% equity share. The agreement establishes a framework for inter-State cooperation to meet the long-term power demands of both States. It enables SCCL to enhance base-load thermal power capacity while significantly reducing generation costs by integrating cost-effective solar energy during daylight hours. The initiative aims to provide affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity to consumers in Telangana. Highlighting the significance of this partnership, Mr. Mallu described it as a transformative initiative that demonstrates collaborative governance and sustainable energy planning. Heeralal Nagar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Energy, Rajasthan, said, 'Rajasthan has enormous potential in solar energy. We are always ready to cooperate with all the States in the country and anyone who is investing in Rajasthan in the solar energy sector, keeping in mind Narendra Modiji's vision of taking India ahead in all sectors, including energy. Rajasthan has a target of 125 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and we are committed to reaching that target. We are signing pacts with PSUs and different States for reaching the target.' The MoU between the Telangana government and the Himachal Pradesh government is a strategic collaboration, leveraging the hill State's rich hydro power potential and Telangana's commitment to sustainable energy solutions. The proposed projects — Seli (400MW) and Meyar (120MW) — will contribute to Telangana's growing demand for clean energy and help in achieving long-term energy security. These projects have been assigned to Telangana Genco on nomination basis. 'These agreements are a win-win situation for both the States,' Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said. The power generated in Himachal Pradesh will be shared between the two States until the projects are transferred by Telangana to Himachal Pradesh after 40 years. Mr. Mallu said Telangana's power demand is growing faster than anticipated due to the expanding economy and increasing domestic demand. The Central Electricity Authority had projected the demand to grow by 8% between 2023-24 to 2024-25, from 15,623 MW to 16,877 MW. But it grew by 9.85%, to 17,162 MW. 'One thing is to meet the demand overall. But it is also important is to ensure that we increase the share of renewable energy in the mix,' he said. 'Land prices in Telangana are too high for solar, and there are not enough hydro project sites.' All these States are looking forward to deepening their cooperation in the energy sector to drive economic growth and also meet the increasing power needs of their citizens. varghese.g@
