Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday that 33 more “illegal infiltrators” have been “pushed back” into Bangladesh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, however, did not mention which districts they had been detained from.

Sarma said that “stringent efforts” to identify and deport alleged undocumented immigrants are underway and will be intensified in the coming days.

Earlier this week, Sarma had said that the state police had been “pushing back” 70 to 100 undocumented immigrants to Bangladesh each week, PTI reported. In recent months, over 450 alleged infiltrators have been forced into Bangladesh, according to the news agency.

Since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asking them to prove that they are Indian citizens.

Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

On May 20, Sarma said that the state was “duty-bound to protect the interests” of Assam and “expel all illegal immigrants from the state through any means and as per directions of [the] Supreme Court”.

The chief minister appeared to be referring to the court’s February 4 ruling that the state must deport persons who had been declared foreign nationals.

However, state Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia had in May written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressing concern about alleged undocumented migrants being “pushed back” into Bangladesh.

The Congress leader had said that the state’s actions “appear to target Muslim communities, undermining India’s secular fabric”.

Citing media reports, Saikia also alleged that several detainees, including women, were forcibly pushed into the no man’s land along the border between India and Bangladesh, “leaving them stateless as Bangladesh refuses to accept them”.

Also read: Assam’s agenda for Muslims goes national

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