'A Bangladeshi student at West Bengal’s Visva-Bharati University has been asked to leave India for taking part in “anti-government activities” after she posted pictures of anti-Citizenship Act protests on her campus, reported The Telegraph on Thursday. The student, Afsara Anika Meem, a first-year student at the university, was trolled on social media after she posted the photos. One of her friends claimed that around 250 social media posts described her as an “anti-national” even though she did not participate in the demonstrations.
'Just days after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray addressed a rally demanding the eviction of “Bangladeshis and Pakistanis” staying in India, his party workers have already formed a vigilante group. They have been going door to door, demanding that people show them their documents and reporting “suspicious persons” to the police. The party workers are calling this – an illegal act of criminal intimidation and an invasion of privacy – their “contribution” to the city police...'
'...Earlier this week, police officials from Marathahalli police station arrested three people belonging to a family in Munnekolala alleging that they are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. In addition, Marathahalli police officials also detained and later released four other Bengali-speaking migrants after questioning them. The arrests and detentions are part of renewed efforts by police officials in Bengaluru’s Whitefield division to identify alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and register cases against them.
'Kailash Vijayvargiya, the national general secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, on Thursday said that the construction workers at his house had “strange eating habits” that aroused suspicions about their nationality, PTI reported. The labourers were only consuming poha, a popular dish made from flattened rice, Vijayvargiya said at a seminar on the Citizenship Amendment Act in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. “I suspected these workers were residents of Bangladesh,” he said. “Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house.”...'
'A leader who is fast developing a repute for controversial lines, BJP’s West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh said on Sunday that the government is committed to implementing the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens and will send back a crore Bangladeshi Muslims living in the state illegally. Addressing a series of rallies in the North 24 Parganas district, Ghosh said that those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are anti-Bengalis and against the idea of India. He said one crore illegal Muslims in the state are “thriving” on the government’s Rs 2 per kg subsidised rice.
'Days after BJP MLA Arvind Limbavalli tweeted a video of shantytowns in North Bengaluru’s Kariyammana Agrahara area, claiming that the settlements belong to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, the houses were razed to the ground on Sunday and rendered thousands homeless. The electricity and water supply to the location was cut off three days ago. After the demolition of the shanties, the residents, mostly migrants from Assam, Tripura, some even from North Karnataka, were allegedly asked to vacate the land... All the residents have valid identity cards, including Aadhaar, pan and voter ID.
'As many as 450 houses were razed and over 3,000 people were evicted in Sootea in Assam’s Sonitpur district on 5-6 December 2019 after “a local legislator entered 10 villages in the area with bulldozers and paramilitary personnel,” Arab News reported... According to Arab News, 65-year-old Akkas Ali, a farmer who is staying at a nearby makeshift camp, said, “My fault is that I am not registered as a voter in the Sootea Assembly constituency where my village falls. I have my vote in the neighboring constituency.
'I am a displaced Bangladeshi and Muslim gay man. I am a survivor of religious violence. And I fled to India in 2016. I would like to tell the Bharatiya Janata Party and its president, Amit Shah, that I exist. Their construction of all Muslims as hegemonic oppressors is outrageous and demonises India’s own dispossessed people. I have experienced this first hand in 2016, but this year BJP has gone a step further.
'...Following the regulation, members of the majority community of Bangladesh, Muslims, are now paying a penalty which is at least 200 times higher compared to the minorities, mainly Hindus, if they overstay in India. Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials described the penalty structure as “discrimination on religious lines”. The officials said that they will raise the issue in the upcoming bilateral talks...
'After the Bengaluru police arrested 60 people on October 26 on the suspicion of being undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants, reports say that several apartment complexes in the city have decided not to employ Bengali-speaking people, especially minorities, as domestic help or labourers. According to Deccan Herald, which accessed internal communication and emails among several apartment dwellers, plans were being made to enforce an informal ban from Monday.
