Critics accuse the ruling party of exploiting infiltration claims to marginalise and intimidate Muslim migrant workers
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court has posed serious questions to several state governments after reports emerged that Bengali Muslims working as migrant labourers were being wrongly arrested and deported on suspicion of being Bangladeshi infiltrators.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the West Bengal Workers Welfare Board stated that Bengali-speaking labourers from West Bengal were being harassed across states, following a circular issued by the Union Home Ministry. The petition alleged that those arrested were Indian citizens but were still detained or deported in the name of illegal immigration.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, told the bench that such actions were destroying the livelihoods of innocent people. “The men being picked up are not infiltrators. They are citizens of India. Their only fault is that they are poor Bengali Muslims working far away from their home,” he argued.
The case was heard by a bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The judges asked pointed questions to the states of Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and West Bengal, as well as the Centre.
The court demanded an explanation of how the states were implementing the Home Ministry’s circular and why Indian citizens were being pushed out in the name of national security.
Justice Suryakant observed, “If these people are proven to be Indian citizens, how can the state justify detaining them or sending them away? What safeguards are in place to protect the rights of these workers?”
The arrests and deportations have triggered fear among Bengali Muslims, particularly in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Opposition leaders have accused the ruling party of exploiting the issue of “Bangladeshi infiltration” to target Muslims.
An activist from West Bengal, Abdul Rashid, told Clarion India: “Our brothers are being humiliated and thrown out just because they speak Bengali and are Muslims. This is political harassment, not law enforcement. They are made to feel like outsiders in their own country.”
Another worker, Mohammed Salim, who had returned home to Malda after being detained in Rajasthan, said, “They kept calling me Bangladeshi. I showed my Aadhaar card, my voter ID, but they still did not listen. Finally, I had to come back. I lost my job, and my family is suffering.”
The issue has also sparked a political war of words. Opposition parties allege that the BJP is deliberately creating fear to polarise communities. A Congress spokesperson said, “This is a clear attempt to brand Muslims as outsiders. The government has no proof, yet people are being jailed and deported. This is a violation of the Constitution.”
Leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) echoed similar concerns. A senior TMC MLA remarked, “It is shameful that Bengalis are being treated as Bangladeshis in their own land. These are poor migrant labourers who have gone to other states to earn their bread. To target them is to target the entire Muslim community.”
The harassment has already forced many Bengali Muslims to leave their jobs and return to West Bengal. Reports suggest that thousands of workers from districts like Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur and South 24 Parganas have returned home in recent months.
Ruksana Begum, whose husband was working in Maharashtra, said, “My husband left because he was always scared of being arrested. We are now surviving on borrowed money. The government should answer why the poor Muslims are being punished for no crime?”
The Supreme Court said it would seek opinions from all respondent states on how to prevent wrongful arrests and stop innocent Indian citizens from being treated as foreigners. The matter will be heard again in the coming weeks.
For many, the judgement could not have come soon enough. As Mohammed Salim put it, “We are Indians, not Bangladeshis. We only want to work and feed our families. Why should we be treated like criminals?”
