How Gujarat crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi settlers has a ‘Pahalgam' backdrop
Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, Gujarat's largest cities, have become focal points of a sweeping police operation against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state. The intensity of the drive is being particularly felt in the Chandola Lake area of Ahmedabad, a predominantly Muslim slum known as the 'Dharavi of Gujarat'.The operation, which started on April 26, has led to the detention of over 1,000 individuals and controversial demolition on April 29 of at least 2,000 homes in Bangali Vaas of Siyasatnagar near the Chandola Lake. The crackdown, fuelled by concerns over national security and environmental degradation, has sparked debates about legality, human rights and communal targeting. The Gujarat High Court, while taking cognisance of the demolition, refused to stay the action.advertisementThe operation began at 3 am on April 26. The Ahmedabad Crime Branch, Special Operations Group, Economic Offences Wing and local police worked in unison, detaining 890 suspects in Ahmedabad; 134 individuals were rounded up in Surat and another 200 people in Vadodara by April 27.The operation was launched following intelligence reports linking illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to security threats, including potential ties to the Al-Qaeda and Indian Mujahideen, as well as environmental violations around the Chandola Lake.
Gujarat minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi hailed the operation as a 'historic victory', emphasising on the state's zero-tolerance for illegal immigration. 'If a single infiltrator is given shelter, their condition will be made bad,' Sanghavi warned.The operation gained urgency after the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam. A statewide security alert has been sounded since the carnage that had tourists from Gujarat among the victims.advertisementIn Ahmedabad, on April 26, detainees were paraded 4 km through the city streets, from the Kankaria Football Ground to the Gaikwad Haveli headquarters of the Crime Branch—a move documented by drone footage and widely circulated by the police. While this public display may have been intended as a deterrence, it has raised ethical questions about the treatment of suspects, many of whom include women and minors.Vadodara screened 1,700 'suspicious individuals', confirming nine as illegal Bangladeshi nationals. Across Gujarat, over 6,500 suspects have been detained so far, with 450 identified as undocumented Bangladeshis. On April 28, 300 detainees in Ahmedabad were released after their Indian citizenship was verified. They included residents from Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. As of April 29, 143 deportations were underway in Ahmedabad; 15 had been deported in February and 35 in March after similar crackdowns, but on a smaller scale.The latest drive is the biggest crackdown ever in Gujarat, where Muslim ghettos are often seen as the dark underbelly blurring the distinction between citizens and illegal immigrants as the latter scurry for survival in subhuman conditions on encroached land.Police identified illegal immigrants through documents, interrogations and satellite imagery of encroachments. Many detainees lacked valid Indian documents; 70 in Ahmedabad had no papers and over 100 held forged Aadhaar, PAN, voter ID and passports. Some people claimed to be from West Bengal but failed to provide family ties or proof of origin. The Ahmedabad Crime Branch used technology, including drone footage and satellite images from 1985, 2011 and 2024, to map illegal settlements and confirm identities.advertisementStepping up the crackdown, on April 29, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and the local police embarked on its biggest-ever demolition drive that kept the city on the edge. Authorities claim that in addition to building illegal colonies, immigrants had encroached on the periphery of the Chandola Lake, filling it with waste from the Pirana landfill site and blocking the Narmada water pipeline. The historic 1,200-hectare lake, they said, had shrunk over the past 15 years.Thousands of people were reported to have fled Ahmedabad as 70 bulldozer machines, 200 trucks and 2,000 police personnel started gathering for the demolition in the wee hours. Intriguingly, most of the 'illegal houses' had electricity connection provided by a private power distribution company. A photograph of a man cutting off these connections on April 28 was widely circulated on social media, interpreted by many that 'illegal colonies' were an open secret.advertisementKingpins, Lallu Bihari Pathan and his son Fateh, were arrested. The father-son duo allegedly operated a vast underground network from a luxurious 5,000 yard property allegedly constructed by illegally reclaiming land from the Chandola Lake. The entire property was razed. The network allegedly facilitated the induction of immigrants into local markets as casual labour, scrap dealers or rickshaw drivers, while several others were also recruited for illicit activities such as sex trade or high-interest lending.Some suspects allegedly had links with drug cartels, human trafficking and Al-Qaeda sleeper cells, raising alarm about the potential nexus between illegal immigration and organised crime. These claims are currently under investigation.'Bangali Vaas is where many illegal Bangladeshis live. Action had been taken against them earlier as well. Demolitions were done too. Three days ago, the police conducted a massive combing operation in which more than 180 Bangladeshis were identified,' said Ahmedabad police commissioner G.S. Malik.On April 29, the Gujarat High Court rejected a petition by 18 affected individuals for a stay on the demolition. The court said prior notice was not required to remove encroachments on government property. The petitioners' counsel Anand Yagnik had argued that residents deserved a 15-day notice since they had lived in area for 50 years.advertisementMujahid Nafees, human rights activist and convenor of the Gujarat Minority Coordination Committee, said: 'The land in occupation may not belong to them. It is government land and they have been residing there as they are unable to purchase property due to sheer poverty and deprivation. There is nothing in the hands of the municipal corporation and the police commissioner of Ahmedabad to suggest that the petitioners are on the bed of the lake.'Migrants from Bangladesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal are drawn to Gujarat's industrial hubs, such as Surat and Ahmedabad, for low-wage jobs in construction, textiles and other sectors. The state's economic prosperity, juxtaposed with porous borders and lax enforcement, has made it a magnet for undocumented workers.Yet, the government's focus on deportation—Gujarat director general of police Vikas Sahay confirmed coordination with the Centre and Border Security Force for swift repatriation—does little to address the root causes of migration, such as economic disparity and political instability in the regions migrants come from.Subscribe to India Today Magazine
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Scroll.in
an hour ago
- Scroll.in
India's ‘pushback' policy violates domestic and international law – but won't face global censure
India's 'pushback' policy of forcing across the border individuals claimed to be undocumented migrants violates both domestic and international law, experts say. Since India launched Operation Sindoor against Pakistan on May 7, it has 'pushed' more than 2,000 people into Bangladesh, The Indian Express reported. At least 40 members of the Rohingya community have been deported to Myanmar even though many of them had cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The legality of the 'pushback' policy has been debated both in India and internationally. But at home, the Supreme Court has not stopped the deportation of Rohingya refugees despite challenges to such actions pending since 2017. Internationally, there is unlikely to be pressure on India from other nations to stop this strategy since many Western nations also employ similar practices, experts say. 'The problem is that most of Europe and the United States are engaged in this,' said Ravi Nair, executive director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre. 'So, who is going to bell the cat and say this is wrong when everybody is doing it?' Human rights lawyer and writer Nandita Haksar agreed. 'The Western states that are so vociferous in taking up human rights' also push refugees back from their shores, she said. 'Therefore, it would be difficult for the Western states to raise the issue of refugee rights with India.' The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow it to use a wartime law to deport Venezuelan immigrants with little to no due process. — The New York Times (@nytimes) March 28, 2025 Assam's claim The most enthusiastic champion of this policy has been Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who said on Monday that his border state had been responsible for 'pushing back' more than 303 people believed to be Bangladeshi. This has been done under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, he said. This was the first time Sarma cited a legal justification for 'pushbacks' that the state government has been carrying out since May. As Scroll has reported, at least three of the 14 who were allegedly 'pushed out' of Assam on May 27 were later brought home. They had been deported on the basis of decisions by the state's foreigners tribunals. But the Supreme Court had stayed the decisions of the tribunals in the case of at least two of these individuals as their appeals are pending. The pushback policy violates India's own constitutional guarantees and established legal procedures for deportation, experts said. Forcibly detaining individuals and physically throwing them out of the country violates Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, applies to all persons within India's territory, regardless of their citizenship status, said Rita Manchanda, research director at the South Asia Forum for Human Rights. This has been underlined by the Supreme Court in several judgements, she noted. The same article was also violated when the Indian authorities deported Rohingya refugees, forcing them into a country that is gripped by civil war and where they face genocide, experts say. 'Pushing them into an active war zone poses a direct threat to their life,' said Anghuman Choudhury, a doctoral candidate in Comparative Asian Studies jointly at the National University of Singapore and King's College London. Choudhury emphasised that Sarma's statement that deportations will be carried out 'without legal process' violates of Article 14 of the Constitution. This article guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the law to everyone within Indian territory. 'Everyone has a right to be heard as per law,' he said. 'You cannot just pick up any suspected foreigner – even the suspected foreigner needs to go through the legal process.' Besides, these processes have been instituted to ensure that no Indian citizens are expelled from their country, he added. Is this a new policy? Experts told Scroll that while India had engaged in 'push backs' of foreigners before, it had never adopted this as a strategy for deportations. Contrary to Sarma's claim that 'pushbacks' are a 'new innovation', this method has been used on the India-Bangladesh border since at leastt 1979, said Choudhury, the doctoral candidate – but the purpose has changed. Until recently, 'pushbacks' meant that the Assam border police or the Border Security Force would stop individuals they spotted trying to enter India from Bangladeshi territory and force them to return or would 'push back' those who had managed to cross the border into India. 'But those were ad hoc cases,' Choudhury said. 'What we are seeing today seems to be a more large-scale systematic policy.' What is also unusual is India's decision to 'push back' refugees, said Nandita Haksar. 'The rate and cruelty with which refugees, including those recognised by the [United Nations High Commission for Refugees] are being deported even at the risk of their lives is new and disturbing,' she said. Ravi Nair agreed. 'India had pushed back people before…,' he said. 'But this kind of pure abduction and putting them into no man's land is clearly crossing the Rubicon.' Violation of domestic law and due process The legal process for deportations in India is articulated in a Standard Operating Procedure issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in 2011. All deportations must be initiated by the Ministry of External Affairs sending the identity details of the apprehended foreigner to their country's embassy. The person can be deported only after confirmation of the person's nationality has been received through these diplomatic channels. The current 'pushback' policy bypasses these procedures, Nair said. 'We have to submit the names and the documents of alleged Bangladeshi nationals to the government of Bangladesh,' he said. 'Once those are verified and Bangladesh is willing to take them, then they are sent back. That is clearly not being followed.' Last month, Scroll reported that 40 Rohingya refugees who had been detained in Delhi alleged that they had been forced off a navy vessel in the Andaman Sea with life jackets on May 7 and told to swim towards Myanmar. Choudhury pointed out that the deportations of Rohingya refugees in this manner violated a 2021 order of the Supreme Court. In a case requesting a halt to the expulsions of Rohingya refugees, the court had said that they could be deported. But it explicitly mandated that deportations must adhere to due process, a directive that appears to be 'directly violated' by the current policy, Choudhury said. Breach of international law Experts told Scroll that 'pushing back' refugees violated India's obligations under international law and customary international law. The principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from returning individuals to a country where they would face persecution, is considered jus cogens – a peremptory norm of international law binding on all states. 'The principle of non-refoulement is also seen as a customary international law,' making it binding even if a country has not ratified specific conventions, Choudhury said. India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. 'But as a member of the UN General Assembly, which is the parent body of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, India is strongly expected to adhere by customary international law,' he said. 'Customary law transcends treaty obligations.' He pointed out that India is a signatory to the Bangkok Principles on Status and Treatment of Refugees, issued in 2001, and the United Nations Global Compact on Refugees, which India signed in 2018. Both mandate non-refoulement as a principle to be upheld by their signatories. India is also a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. These treaties too contain provisions that implicitly or explicitly uphold the principle of non-refoulement, particularly concerning the right to family unity and protection from inhuman treatment, said Aman Kumar, a PhD candidate at the Australian National University who runs the Indian Blog of International Law. 'When you return female refugees back to Myanmar, or you separate children from their parents through deportations, you violate these treaties,' Kumar said. He noted that India had an 'extensive and wide record of accepting refugees as a state practice.' He pointed to asylum granted over the decades to tens of thousands of refugees from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tibet, in stark contrast to the current Indian government's hostility towards Rohingya refugees. Scrutiny of policy unlikely Internationally, India's 'pushback' policy is likely to attract scrutiny from United Nations agencies. On May 15, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar began an inquiry into alleged deportation of 40 Rohingya refugees from Delhi. The special rapporteur, Thomas Andrews, described these alleged acts as 'unconscionable' and 'unacceptable'. Many experts told Scroll that India is already receiving bad press on the issue internationally. However, direct action against India would face significant hurdles. If a country violates treaty obligations, action could be launched against it in the United Nations' International Court of Justice. But geopolitical realities often deter international action, Kumar said. 'India is too strategically important as a huge market and a potential alternative to China in the global supply chain,' he said. As a consequence, he does not foresee another country taking India to the International Court of Justice. In theory, Bangladesh – the country most affected by this policy – could start proceedings against India in the International Criminal Court, said Nair. 'Even though India is not a party to the International Criminal Court, Bangladesh is,' he said. 'A state party can bring a complaint against a non-state party before the court.' However, he said, that possibility was remote because Bangladesh is unlikely to want to aggravate India at a time of fraught relations between the two. Manchanda said that India may face some heat at the United Nations Human Rights Council's upcoming session on June 16. 'I expect that there will be statements made by civil society groups expressing outrage at what India is doing,' she said. She pointed out that in June 2024, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had called for India to refrain from forcibly detaining and deporting Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. But Manchanda said she was 'unsure about how much traction this would get.' Kumar did not believe the policy would be halted. 'Legally there is essentially nothing stopping India from continuing to carry out such deportations,' he said.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
In west UP, Yogi recalls Kairana exodus, reasserts ‘batenge toh katenge pitch'
: Reasserting his 'batenge toh katenge' pitch in western Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday recalled the Hindu exodus from Kairana and Kandhla, an issue that had gained prominence in 2016 and played out in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls which the BJP won, marking the beginning of Adityanath's innings as CM. Yogi Adityanath made the remark during his address at the Sant Samagam and Satsang event at Shukteerth, Muzaffarnagar. The Kairana and Kandhla migration controversy, often termed the 'Hindu exodus,' refers to claims of mass migration of Hindu families from these towns in Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh between 2014 and 2016. The then BJP MP Hukum Singh had alleged in June 2016 that over 346 Hindu families fled Kairana, and later 63 from Kandhla, due to threats and extortion by Muslim criminals, notably Mukim Kala. A National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report partially supported the claims, stating some families left due to fear. The controversy, amplified before the 2017 UP elections but was criticized as a BJP tactic to polarise voters. Hukum Singh partially backtracked on his initial claims about the 'Hindu exodus' from Kairana and Kandhla in UP. Singh later clarified on June 14, 2016, that the migration was 'not communal' but due to law and order issues and threats by goons. He omitted the word 'Hindu' from the Kandhla list's title and acknowledged the issue was about crime, not religion, though he stood by the lists' core claims. Seen as a call for unity and warning against social divisions, the phrase 'batenge toh katenge' (if we divide, we will be cut/destroyed) is a political slogan frequently used by Adityanath and other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. It is often accompanied by the slogan 'Ek rahenge toh nek rahenge' (if we stay united, we will remain well/prosperous).' Adityanath himself first used the slogan in August 2024 and subsequently in the Uttar Pradesh assembly bypolls and the Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls. Adityanath's remarks, seen as a counter to Akhilesh Yadav's PDA (Pichde, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) campaign, are expected to resonate in his future addresses too. For his part, the chief minister, who was speaking at the 65th death anniversary of Sant Swami Gyan Bhikshuk Das Ji Maharaj and in memory of Satguru Samandas Ji Maharaj in Muzaffarnagar on Wednesday, said unity, inspired by the teachings of saints, is the antidote to such societal fractures. 'When the country was struggling under foreign invasions during the medieval period and its culture and religion were under attack, Satguru Ravidas Ji emerged as a divine light.' Ravidas led by example, offering the nation spiritual guidance that still resonates today, he said. 'Guru Ravidas and Swami Bhikshuk Das have shown us the path of unity, which prevents incidents like Kairana and Kandhla,' Yogi Adityanath told a large gathering. 'This path ensures our security, progress, and strength in all circumstances.' 'He (Ravidas) raised awareness against social evils and blind practices, inspired faith in action over ritual, and kindled spiritual consciousness,' Adityanath said, and quoted Ravidas's famous saying, 'Mann changa to katoti mein Ganga' – If the mind is pure, divinity resides even in the smallest vessel. Highlighting the BJP-led government's efforts, he noted the transformation of Sant Ravidas's birthplace in Seer Govardhan, Varanasi. 'Before 2014, it was accessible only by a single-lane road. We built a four-lane highway, a grand ashram, a magnificent statue, an 'Anna Kshetra,' and a park,' he said. He credited PM Narendra Modi's vision, citing the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which provides free food grains to 81 crore people, as a realisation of Ravidas's dream of equality. Describing Shukteerth as a sacred site where Shukdev narrated the first Shrimad Bhagavat 5,000 years ago, Adityanathi called Sanatan Dharma the only tradition with such an unbroken spiritual legacy. He announced infrastructure upgrades for the Samandas Ashram, including a ghat, widened roads, beautification, parking, and a satsang hall. He praised Ravidas's guru, Sant Ramanand, for spreading the message: 'Jaat-paat poochhe nahi koi, Hari ko bhaje so Hari ka ho (No one asks about caste, those who worship Hari become one with Hari).' The chief minister criticised past governments for neglecting Babasaheb Ambedkar's legacy, noting that PM Modi established the Panchteerths and declared November 26 as the Constitution Day. Shukteerth, or Shukratal, in Muzaffarnagar draws pilgrims from across India. Nestled along the banks of the Ganga River, the destination lies approximately 28 kilometres from Muzaffarnagar. Those present at the event included Mahant Govardhan Das Maharaj, Swami Omanand Maharaj, Nirmal Das Maharaj, MP Chandan Chauhan, ministers Anil Kumar, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Somendra Tomar, former MP Sanjeev Balyan, and MLAs Rajpal Balyan, Vandana Verma, Mithilesh Pal, and Vikram Saini.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
PM Modi 3.0: Can the government deliver on jobs and private investment?
As the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has completed 11 years in power, a key question looms over its economic legacy - has the Indian economy truly performed well under its watch? While supporters point to improved macroeconomic stability, critics often highlight the lack of progress in job creation and private investment. An analysis of key economic data provides a mixed but telling picture of the country's journey so far and the road of the most prominent indicators used to evaluate a government's economic record are GDP growth and inflation. During the UPA era (2004–2014), GDP growth averaged 6.8 percent. Under the Modi government, which took office in 2014, the average stands slightly lower at 6.2 percent. However, if the outlier years of the COVID-19 slump in 2020–21 and the subsequent rebound in 2021–22 are excluded, the adjusted average under Modi rises to 7.1 another major talking point - especially under the UPA government - has been a mixed story. During the UPA years, inflation averaged 5 percent. Under Modi, the number has been higher at 8.1 percent, although this increase is partly attributable to global volatility and changes in inflation benchmarks. Despite this, the Modi administration has received praise for maintaining relative stability in food prices, thanks to improved supply chains and quicker policy One factor that played a quiet but crucial role in controlling inflation has been the global crude oil price. When the Modi government came to power in June 2014, the Indian crude oil basket was priced at USD 107 per barrel. By June 2025, the price had dropped to US 67.38 per barrel. Despite the depreciation of the rupee over the years, the rupee cost per barrel is now 11 percent lower than it was 11 years ago. This favourable trend has significantly helped in managing inflation to leading economists, several macroeconomic indicators suggest that India's economic fundamentals remain strong. Inflation is within the Reserve Bank of India's comfort zone. Corporate and banking sector balance sheets are healthier compared to a decade ago. Fiscal data is transparent, the current account deficit is within manageable limits, and public debt remains low. India is expected to grow at 6.5 percent in FY26, although global uncertainty continues to pose two persistent concerns threaten to overshadow these achievements - sluggish private sector investment and a lack of formal job creation. These issues gained significant traction in recent state elections and were a major talking point during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. With rising automation, AI, and tech adoption, employment opportunities - particularly in the formal sector - are becoming scarcer. The government is increasingly looking to the private sector to generate jobs, but private players have indicated they need more policy of the bottleneck lies in unfinished reforms. Two major reform areas - land acquisition and labor codes - remain mired in political resistance. The Modi government's initial attempt at land reform in 2014 was rolled back after widespread protests. Although labor codes have been passed by Parliament, their implementation remains stalled as several states have delayed India moves to sign more free trade agreements, these structural reforms become more pressing to ensure competitiveness and sustained economic roadblocks don't end there. Plans for privatization and asset monetisation - once touted as critical to funding infrastructure and reducing the fiscal burden - have been put on hold. With coalition politics making a comeback in Modi's third term, such strategic initiatives may now require more political negotiation. However, with a fresh mandate and regained political capital, the government may accelerate action in the coming challenges continue to emerge. The World Bank recently revised India's GDP forecast for FY25 down to 6.3 percent from an earlier estimate of 6.7 percent, attributing the cut to weaker global demand and a slowdown in investment growth. Nevertheless, India is still expected to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world. The World Bank also highlighted positive trends such as contained inflation, improving fiscal indicators, and a slow but steady decline in public debt. It recommended lowering tariffs and strengthening fiscal discipline to stimulate global economic Modi 3.0 begins, the economic path forward is lined with both opportunities and challenges. While India's macroeconomic foundation appears resilient, the missing piece - jobs and private investment - will be the key to sustaining long-term growth and addressing rising voter Watch
