Home Ministry notifications on immigrants trigger political storm in Bengal

Two back-to-back notifications by the Union Home Ministry have triggered a political storm in West Bengal as they lend administrative weight to the politics of polarisation.

The notifications not only reinforce the BJP’s narrative of safeguarding Bengali Hindus, particularly the Matua community, who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, but also hint at a potential escalation in the crackdown on undocumented Muslim migrants.

The Home Ministry’s order notifying rules for the recently-enacted Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 declared that individuals from non-Muslim communities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India by December 31, 2024, seeking refuge from religious persecution, will be permitted to remain in the country even without valid passports or travel documents.

Also Read: Bengal Matuas seek audience with Rahul Gandhi: Are they eyeing third option?

In a separate notification, the ministry instructed all state governments and union territories to establish dedicated holding centres or detention facilities to confine illegal migrants until their deportation.

It also empowered the civil administration to inspect “any place or premises, if the said authority has reasons to believe that an illegal migrant is staying or hiding in that place or premises”.

‘Push-back’ exercise

The move signals the Centre’s intent to intensify its crackdown on illegal immigrants not covered by the exemptions. In other words, undocumented Muslim migrants are the primary target, and that is where the orders have become politically contentious.

The ongoing nationwide crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants has reportedly led to the wrongful detention of several Indian Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states, as previously reported by The Federal. In some cases, suspects were even pushed across the border into Bangladesh without due legal process, as part of the controversial “push-back” exercise.

The fact that the government was compelled to take back many of those pushed into Bangladesh clearly exposed the flaws in the highly-politicised crackdown.

Also Read: BJP plays Matua Dalit identity card, snubs RSS’s unified Hindu rhetoric

TMC’s second language movement

For the BJP, however, the crackdown began to politically backfire in poll-bound West Bengal after several Bengali Hindus were targeted.

The sweeping action, along with the possibility of a special intensive revision of electoral rolls, has sparked concerns even among many Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh or the erstwhile East Pakistan.

This prompted the Trinamool Congress to turn the tables on the BJP, labelling the drive an anti-Bengali exercise and calling for a second language movement.

Wooing the Matua community

In response to the backlash, the Home Ministry’s notifications are being seen as a political course-correction, particularly aimed at wooing the Matua community, widely considered a key vote bank for the BJP in the state.

A 24-member delegation from the Matua community recently met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Bihar, seeking his support to resolve their longstanding citizenship issue.

The Matuas are a religious and cultural community within the Namasudra caste, a group that forms part of the larger Scheduled Caste (SC) population. They primarily consist of refugees from Bangladesh who fled religious persecution during the 1970s and in subsequent decades.

Also Read: Bengal’s Matuas wait and watch, refuse to take CAA bait as poll battle hots up

Over time, many of them obtained Indian identity documents such as voter ID cards and Aadhaar, but these are not sufficient to establish citizenship in the absence of a valid Indian birth certificate, a crucial document to avoid potential prosecution under the Foreigners Act.

In 2019, the BJP-led government at the Centre enacted the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to provide a special pathway to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

However, not many applied for citizenship under the CAA, as the TMC-led state government maintained that the identity documents already in their possession were adequate to prove their Indian nationality.

Citizenship concerns

During the ongoing crackdown on illegal migrants, particularly in BJP-ruled states, some members of the Matua and other Hindu Bengali communities have been detained for failing to produce documents such as birth certificates or old land records. Even those who were in the process of applying for citizenship under the CAA by obtaining religious identification documents from the All-India Matua Mahasangha, signed by union minister Shantanu Thakur, were harassed.

This has undermined the BJP’s narrative of protecting Hindu refugees. The proposed SIR exercise has further deepened citizenship concerns within the refugee community, prompting them to approach Rahul Gandhi for support.

Also Read: Matuas to get citizenship, Mamata can’t stop CAA implementation: Shah

Moreover, some Hindus are believed to have illegally taken shelter in India following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government in August 2024.

“Their detention or deportation would not only have dented the BJP’s image as a protector of Hindu refugees, but also weakened its campaign in West Bengal that Muslim illegal migrants are altering the state’s demographic balance,” observed political commentator and author Nirmalya Banerjee.

Protective shield

To navigate this catch-22 situation, the crackdown on so-called illegal migrants had to continue, but in a way that ensured Hindus were not targeted. The two notifications have done exactly that.

By granting a blanket exemption from documentation requirements to non-Muslim migrants who entered India by December 31, 2024, the government has effectively provided them with a protective shield against the ongoing crackdown.

This crackdown is likely to be intensified, as indicated by the directive to set up detention camps in all states and by empowering police officials of the rank of head constable or above to detain anyone on mere suspicion of being an illegal migrant.

Also Read: BJP leaders insulting Matuas by offering fresh citizenship: TMC's Abhishek

The extension of the entry deadline by 10 years, however, will not automatically make those who migrated to India during 2015–2024 eligible to apply for citizenship under the CAA, according to legal experts.

“They will be allowed to stay as refugees until the six-year naturalisation process, mandated for citizenship applications under the CAA, is completed,” pointed out Shishir Dey, a lawyer and a former member of a Foreigners' Tribunal in Assam.

Former BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar also claimed that Hindu refugees would eventually receive Indian citizenship through the naturalisation process.

SIR the real threat: TMC

Though the TMC is guarded in its response to the Home Ministry’s new guidelines, the party says the SIR now poses the real threat not only to refugee communities but also to indigenous Indian citizens.

“Many Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh are at risk of losing their voter identity cards if the SIR is implemented. Even most tribal and other marginalised communities are likely to find it difficult to meet the criteria laid down in the SIR. The new notifications have not addressed these concerns,” claimed Mukul Chandra Bairagya, a TMC leader and chairman of the West Bengal Namasudra Welfare Board.

Also Read: Caught in catch-22: Matua body asks members not to apply under CAA till formation of new govt

While the Centre’s latest move appears to be a strategic attempt to reclaim lost ground among refugee communities, especially the Matuas, it remains to be seen whether these directives will bring clarity or further confusion.

One thing, however, is certain - that the notifications have set the stage for an even more polarised political battleground in Bengal, with assembly elections less than a year away.