West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly criticised the BJP, accusing the party of targeting Bengali-speaking citizens in saffron-ruled states by wrongly branding them as “Bangladeshis.” She said this linguistic bias is causing undue harassment of legitimate Indian citizens who possess valid documents.
Speaking during question hour in the Bengal Assembly on Monday, Banerjee said, “You should be ashamed that you are labelling bona fide Indian citizens as Bangladeshis just because of the language they speak.” She added that speaking in Bengali is as respectable as speaking in any Indian language.
Banerjee’s remarks came after a 36-year-old West Bengal man, Mehbub Sheikh, was allegedly pushed across the Indo-Bangla border by Maharashtra Police in the early hours of June 15. Despite holding documents proving his Indian citizenship, he was treated as an illegal immigrant.
Sheikh, a resident of Hossainnagar village in Murshidabad district, had been working as a mason in Mira Road near Mumbai for the last two years. He was reportedly picked up by police while having tea and later detained at Kanakia police station on June 11.
Following his detention, Sheikh contacted his family, who quickly alerted local authorities and submitted multiple identity documents to the Maharashtra Police. These included his voter ID, Aadhaar card, ration card, and a certified family tree from the local panchayat.
Despite these efforts, Sheikh was allegedly handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF), who pushed him into Bangladesh around 3:30 am on June 15. His family said they were later informed he had sought shelter in a nearby Bangladeshi village.
Samirul Islam, chair of the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, said that even after sending all necessary documents, the Maharashtra Police went ahead with the eviction. “They didn’t even inform the Bengal government,” he added.
Shabbir Ahmed, pradhan of Mahisasthali gram panchayat, rushed to a BSF camp in Siliguri after being informed of Sheikh’s whereabouts. However, he claimed that BSF officials refused to consider the documents or engage in dialogue.
Mujibur, Mehbub Sheikh’s brother, recounted how the family worked urgently to get all papers to the authorities. He said, “We did everything we could to prove my brother’s identity, but they still treated him like a foreigner.”
Responding to the controversy, Mira Road police inspector Meghna Burade defended the department’s actions. She said that under an order to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants, several individuals, including Sheik, were detained.
Burade claimed Sheikh failed to produce a birth certificate or other “strong” evidence of Indian nationality. She dismissed the credibility of Aadhaar and PAN cards, calling them susceptible to fraud and insufficient for confirming citizenship.
According to Burade, the police followed due procedure and had asked for further proof, which Sheikh did not provide. She maintained that their department “was not at fault” and acted in compliance with orders from higher authorities.
This incident aligns with a growing national trend, where police crackdowns on undocumented migrants have intensified following the recent Pahalgam terror attack. Law enforcement agencies are being pushed to act swiftly on illegal immigration cases.
In Delhi alone, more than 400 Bangladeshi nationals have been detained in the past two weeks for illegally staying in the country. Many were reportedly picked up in sudden midnight raids and held in detention centers pending repatriation.
The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over India’s recent “push back” strategy. In a letter dated May 8, Dhaka urged New Delhi to respect official repatriation protocols and stop unilateral deportations across the border.
Mamata Banerjee warned that such actions risk tearing apart India’s social fabric. She said, “You are not only insulting a language but also stripping away the dignity and livelihood of law-abiding citizens.”
