If deport 'illegal Bangladeshis', begin by Sheikh Hasina: Indian politician
Indian politician Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said if the Indian government wants to deport “illegal Bangladeshis” from India, it should begin by sending back former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Asaduddin Owaisi is the chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and a lawmaker from Hyderabad.
“Why are we keeping that deposed leader (Sheikh Hasina) in the country? Send her back. She is also a Bangladeshi, isn’t it?,” Owaisi said at an Idea Exchange event of The Indian Express.
The report of Indian Express also mentioned that India should “accept the popular revolution” that took place in Bangladesh on 5 August, 2024, and work towards good relations with Bangladesh’s current regime.
“We have one Bangladeshi living in our country and creating problems by giving statements and speeches, and then we have these poor Bengali-speaking Indians from Malda and Murshidabad who were sent from Pune to Kolkata in an aircraft and then dumped in no man’s land,” Owaisi said, referring to recent incidents where Bengali-speaking residents were deported without verification.
“Anyone who speaks Bengali becomes Bangladeshi, is it? It shows the xenophobia that is operating here,” he said in response to a question on the Opposition’s take on the alleged targeting of Bengali migrants across the country.
Owaisi’s comment came at a time when Indian border security force’s push-in of Bengali speaking people into Bangladesh raises concern.
Human Rights Watch in last week of July said Indian authorities have expelled hundreds of ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh in recent weeks without due process, claiming they are “illegal immigrants.”
“Since May 2025, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has intensified operations to expel ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh, ostensibly to deter people from entering India without legal authorization. The government should stop unlawfully deporting people without due process and instead ensure everyone’s access to procedural safeguards to protect against arbitrary detention and expulsion,” said the HRW report on 24 July.
“India’s ruling BJP is fueling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
The Indian government has provided no official data on the number of people expelled, but Border Guard Bangladesh has reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between 7 May and 15 June, including about 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, the HRW added.