In the weeks leading up to and following India's 79th Independence Day (August 15, 2025), thousands of Bengali-speaking migrant workers—many of whom are Indian citizens—found themselves entangled in a harsh irony. They were questioned, detained, and in numerous cases forcibly pushed into Bangladesh, largely on the mere pretext of speaking Bengali.

This phenomenon, particularly rampant across BJP-ruled states, reflects a confluence of surveillance of identity, electoral manoeuvring, and cultural marginalisation. The situation of Bengali Migrants working in different cities and places of India, especially in the BJP-ruled states, is pathetic. Many, out of fear and threat, have returned to Bengal. Many, without verification, are passed on to Bangladesh, alleging them to be Bangladeshi, just because they speak the Bengali language.

Historical and Political Perspective 
Linguistic Profiling and Identity Politics: Bengali, or Bangla, is not only one of India's 22 constitutionally recognised languages but also one of its 11 classical languages, a designation affirmed by the Union government in 2024. Yet, in a disturbing twist, official communications have begun to refer to "Bangladeshi" or "Muslim" as languages or categories, deliberately devaluing Bangla's status and its speakers.

Electoral Calculus and the Infiltrator Narrative: The BJP has long portrayed immigration from Bangladesh as a demographic and security concern, especially in border and eastern states. In 2025, following a deadly attack in Kashmir in April, this rhetoric intensified. The Home Ministry reportedly gave states a 30-day deadline in May to identify and expedite the removal of alleged undocumented Bangladeshis. This directive, coupled with the political salience of upcoming state elections—including West Bengal in 2026—appears to have turned migration into a tool for "sanitising" voter rolls and crafting a hardened, nationalist electoral narrative.

The Ordeal: Detentions, Deportations, and Returns
There are widespread detentions and pushbacks. Human Rights Watch documented that between May 7 and June 15, at least 1,500 Bengali-speaking Muslim men, women, and children were expelled across borders without due process, despite many being Indian citizens. Similarly, Deutsche Welle confirmed hundreds more were forcibly deported, and in some cases, identity documents were destroyed.

Reports from various Indian outlets and NGO tracking found analogous patterns in the detentions in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Delhi, and Haryana, culminating in removals across the border. In Odisha, for instance, 444 workers—mainly from districts such as Murshidabad, Nadia, and Malda—were detained; only 277 were released after undergoing documentation checks. In Odisha's Jharsuguda and in other locations, the Calcutta High Court took note of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of detained Indian citizens.

Personal Testimonies: One migrant, Khairul Islam, recounted being forced into a no-man's land between India and Bangladesh; border guards even used rubber bullets to deter him from returning, despite his proof of citizenship. Another, Nazimuddin Mondal, described being arrested in Mumbai, flown through Pune, and released on the Bangladesh border with ?300 in Bangladeshi currency. Sheikh Amir, from Malda, was allegedly pushed into Bangladesh by Rajasthan police despite holding a valid Aadhaar but lacking an EPIC on him; his father filed a habeas corpus petition in the Calcutta High Court.

The lived experiences of Bengali-speaking migrant workers reveal the fragile position they occupy within the Indian polity. Jafar Ali, an autorickshaw driver from North Dinajpur, illustrates this precarity. After returning home due to a spate of detentions in Gurgaon, Ali found that his daily earnings in Bengal had been reduced to one-fifth of what he made in Haryana. Faced with debt obligations and family expenses, he joined a convoy of thirty-four families that drove 1,500 kilometres back to Gurgaon, despite the looming fear of renewed harassment. "We have returned to Gurgaon despite the fears of being tortured again for being Bengali," he confessed.

His colleague, Mostaq Alam of Radhanagar, echoed a similar sentiment. Even after producing Indian documents, he and others were tortured and labelled "Bangladeshis" by the Gurgaon police. He explained the cruel paradox: "After coming home, we realised that we could not even sustain our families with the measly earnings we made here driving autos. So, we have come back to Gurgaon."

Releases, Repatriations, and Returnees: Many of those forcibly pushed across eventually returned, often after legal interventions or family pressure. In one case, three workers pushed into Bangladesh were repatriated the next day after appealing to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Over 2,000 migrant workers have been repatriated to West Bengal with the state government's assistance, which also includes a promise of rehabilitation. In Madhya Pradesh, a Murshidabad migrant named Raimul Hasan was released in four hours after police confirmed his Indian documentation.

This cycle of leaving and returning has become a defining pattern. Migrant families who were once forced out by detention drives in BJP-ruled states repeatedly return when the lack of opportunities in Bengal outweighs their fears. Even Mamata Banerjee's "Shramashree" scheme, which promised monthly assistance of ?5,000 and a travel allowance, failed to bridge the economic gap. As Alam lamented, "We cannot meet our expenses with a meagre ?5,000 ... Besides, it's unclear when and how long we would receive this assistance."

In this paradoxical return, Bengali migrants embody the "push-pull" dynamics of India's internal labour market: pushed out by ethnic suspicion, pulled back by sheer necessity. It is a migration that never ends, but circles back upon itself.

Political Responses and Strategies
The present Trinamool Congress-led Government has begun its protest against racial discrimination. CM Mamata Banerjee described the deportations as "terrorising Bengali-speaking people" and initiated a "Bhasa Andolan" (language movement) in protest.

Role of the Bengal Government: West Bengal undertook a special legislative session to address the crisis; TMC raised the issue in Parliament and launched statewide protests, denouncing the demands for birth certificates, Aadhaar, and EPIC from central agencies. Abhishek Banerjee, TMC's national general secretary, declared support for any party resisting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls. On Baishe Srabon—Rabindranath Tagore's death anniversary—TMC invoked his legacy while highlighting that 2,476 workers fled BJP-ruled states due to harassment.

BJP and Central Government Positioning: BJP leaders defended the crackdown as a law-and-order measure. State president Samik Bhattacharya insisted that genuine Indian Bengalis—particularly Hindus and "nationalist Muslim Bengalis"—would be protected, framing the crackdown as targeting "fake voters" and "illegal immigrants." Bengal BJP MPs have been scheduled to meet Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the migrant issue, voter roll revision, and broader organisational strategy. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed the issue was being exaggerated by Mamata Banerjee to gain electoral sympathy.

Structural Drivers and Legislative Mechanisms
There is fear-mongering among the people of Bengal about the Voter List Revisions and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar has magnified anxieties over disenfranchisement. BJP leaders in West Bengal have proposed applying it to remove alleged fake or infiltrator names. TMC has pushed back, arguing that this disenfranchises poor and undocumented citizens, especially migrants, even though they hold central IDs.

Growth of "Infiltrator" Discourse: The notion of a "Greater Bangladesh" conspiracy, purportedly backed by some fringe groups, is frequently invoked by BJP leaders to justify tough policies against Bengali migrants. Such rhetoric, though unsupported in mainstream historical discourse, shapes public perceptions and policy rhetoric. The label of "infiltrator" has been weaponised in recent years, reducing citizenship to a linguistic test. Reports from across India document an intensifying crackdown since May 2025, with hundreds of Bengali-speaking labourers detained in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Delhi. In Mumbai, Minarul Sheikh of Murshidabad was detained despite possessing Indian identification, before being beaten and pushed across the Bangladesh border.

In Delhi NCR, police records have gone so far as to classify Bengali as the "Bangladeshi language." This misrecognition strikes at the heart of cultural and constitutional belonging, effectively stripping millions of their identity with a bureaucratic sleight of hand. The BJP's IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, stating that "there is, in fact, no language called Bengali," reinforced the dangerous merging of rhetoric and state power.

This discourse collapses language, class, and religion into a singular category of suspicion. Poor, Muslim, Bengali-speaking workers are rendered hyper-visible as "outsiders," while affluent or Hindu Bengalis often remain less targeted. As scholars of migration argue, linguistic profiling becomes a tool of exclusion where "citizenship is determined not by the passport, but by the tongue."

Shrinking Employment and Capital Flight: West Bengal's economic downturn, marked by industrial decline and job losses, is a longstanding structural issue. Between 2015 and 2023, unincorporated sector enterprises in the state lost approximately 30 lakh jobs. The share of industrial production, once 24% at independence, had dwindled to just 3.5% by 2021. This has driven large-scale labour migration, which has now had reverse flows induced by political fear and stigma.

Cultural Legacy and Democratic Values
No citizen of India can deny the contributions of Bengali statesmen and intellectuals. Bengalis have shaped India's political, cultural, and intellectual landscape. Figures such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, and Reshmi Bose have contributed to India's independence, nation-building, and literary heritage. Tagore's writing of India's national anthem and his broader cultural bridge-building exemplify the projected unity that runs contrary to present prejudices.

The marginalisation of Bengalis as "infiltrators" ignores the profound contributions Bengal has made to Indian nationhood. From Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European Nobel laureate in literature, whose song became the national anthem, to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, whose vision of inclusive nationalism challenged colonial and sectarian politics, Bengali intellectuals have shaped India's democratic and cultural trajectory.

Economist Amartya Sen has recently voiced concern at the targeting of Bengali migrant workers. "This is a terrible thing to happen… We have to bear in mind that India is one country and people should be able to go from one part to another without having the fear of being badly treated," he remarked, highlighting the constitutional promise of free movement. A community that gifted India some of its most resonant voices of freedom and unity is now vilified as foreign and suspect.

Language, Literature, and Identity: The forced labelling of Bangla as "Bangladeshi" is a profound affront—Tagore's Bengali is the source of not only India's national anthem but also the aspirational language of freedom and humanism. Attacks on the character of Bangla speakers are thus attacks on India's own cultural foundations.

Language is not merely a mode of communication but a repository of identity. Bengali, one of the world's most widely spoken languages, is central to both Indian and global literary traditions. Suniti Kumar Chatterji's pioneering The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language (1926) situated it within the Indo-European family, tracing its independent evolution for nearly a millennium. For many, being Bengali is inextricably linked to this linguistic heritage.

Amitav Ghosh has warned against the erasure of Bangla: "It is a powerful element of the identity of almost 100 million Indians… What is particularly troubling is the hostility and disrespect that is increasingly being shown, in some parts of India, towards Bangla, and Bengalis of all religions."

At the Telegraph School Awards 2025, the theme "Matribhashai sobcheye priyo, kono bhasha-i noyko heyo" (My mother tongue is my favourite, but no language is lesser) was chosen as a counter to this hostility. Such affirmations highlight that the Bengali struggle is not merely about jobs or documents but about the dignity of one's own tongue.

Democratic Aspirations versus Ethnic Exclusion: India's democratic promise includes free movement, choice of workplace, and the right to vote. The disenfranchisement and harassment of internal migrants—many of whom are just seeking livelihood—undermine this promise and signal a troubling slide toward ethno-language profiling.

The migrant worker from Bengal is often invisible. He builds the city, cleans its streets, carries its loads. Yet his place in the nation is questioned. Citizenship, for him, is fragile. 'The hands that build the nation are the very hands denied a home in it.' Across India, these workers face a paradox. They are essential to the economy, but excluded from its promises. Their identity is doubted, their belonging tested. In Assam, in Delhi, in Kerala, the Bengali migrant finds his right to be Indian under constant suspicion.

The current climate presents a contradiction between India's democratic aspirations and its ethnic exclusions. On one hand, the Indian Constitution enshrines linguistic diversity and freedom of movement; on the other, Bengali migrants are hounded as outsiders in their own country. As one respondent in Delhi noted, "Here, any non-Hindu Bengali-speaking lower-class person is assumed to be Bangladeshi." This conflation of linguistic and religious identity erodes the plural foundations of Indian democracy.

Kaushik Basu emphasises that Bengal's heritage — from Rabindranath to Nazrul — embodies a secular cultural identity that cuts across religious lines. "This secular heritage of Bengal is something special," he observed, contrasting sharply with today's divisive narratives.

The resilience of migrants who return to hostile states for survival, and the cultural pride articulated in literature, music, and testimony, together form an act of democratic resistance. As Barry O'Brien poetically put it, "If AI could one day do a DNA test of the soul, my 'Bengaliness' would hit it out of the park." This Bengaliness — at once cultural, economic, and political — is the ground upon which migrants assert their right to belong.

What we are witnessing is not merely administrative fervour but the politicisation and weaponisation of identity. Bengali-speaking migrants—many Indian citizens—are finding that speaking their mother tongue is being treated as criminal.

India's strength lies in its diversity—and its democracy must reflect that. Sabotaging the very right to earn, migrate, and assemble is a betrayal of the political traditions of freedom, equality, and unity that luminaries like Tagore, Bose, Chattopadhyay, and countless unnamed Bengali patriots fought to protect. The Indian Republic must recommit to ensuring that any citizen can be Indian first, without fear.