Hasina Bibi clutched her hungry four-year-old daughter as she waited at an India-Bangladesh border post, trying to leave as fears grow of an Indian crackdown on undocumented migrants.
She is among the hundreds of Bangladeshis who have gathered over two days at Hakimpur in India’s West Bengal state, police said, hoping to cross back as authorities tighten enforcement under a new state government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won power in West Bengal earlier this month promising to “detect, delete and deport” illegal migrants.
The rush underscores growing anxiety among migrant communities — many of whom lack proper documentation — with rights groups warning of forced expulsions and limited legal protections.
Many are in limbo, caught between Indian pressure to leave and Bangladesh’s refusal to accept them without formal proof of citizenship.
Many have waded across a river to return in desperation, although the scale of the exodus remains unclear.
Last week, West Bengal authorities ordered the establishment of “holding centres” for “apprehended foreigners”, including Bangladeshis and Rohingya, fuelling anxiety among the state’s roughly 35 million Muslims.
“We have been asked to leave immediately, or the government will take stern action,” said Hasina, 45, who worked at construction sites in Kolkata after entering India six years ago.
“We came to this city in search of a job. Now we want to return to Bangladesh, (but) we don’t know what is waiting for us there,” she said.
Her husband tried feeding their child scraps of leftover bread as families huddled in an unfinished building near the outpost, some without proper food for days.
The sudden influx followed word spreading among migrant communities that crossing into Bangladesh was possible from Hakimpur, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Kolkata.
India shares a long and porous border with Bangladesh, where migration has historically been driven by economic hardship and longstanding family links.
In Indian states that border Bangladesh, like West Bengal and Assam, undocumented migrants have formed an integral part of the informal workforce for years.
But activists say hundreds have been pushed across the border from Assam in recent months without due legal process, often based on ethnic profiling.
‘Hopes dashed’
The developments in Assam have heightened fears in West Bengal, officials and residents say.
“People are trooping to the Hakimpur border check-post since Tuesday after hearing that crossover to Bangladesh is possible from this outpost,” senior state police official Subrata Saha told AFP at the site.
Authorities said those who have gathered at the temporary shelter will be moved to holding centres for preliminary checks before being handed to Border Security Force (BSF) and sent to Bangladesh.
West Bengal’s history of migration dates back to the partition of British India in 1947.
Bengal was divided along religious lines into predominantly Hindu West Bengal, which became part of India, and Muslim-majority East Pakistan, later becoming Bangladesh.
For many, returning raises questions of identity as much as survival.
“My parents came to India from Bangladesh over two decades ago. I was born in Kolkata, but I don’t have valid documents to prove my (Indian) nationality,” said Abdul Sheikh, 20.
With his parents now dead, Sheikh said he had been warned to leave “or face the consequences”.
“All my hopes are dashed. I don’t know how I can prove that I am Bangladeshi.”
Others said they felt they had no choice.
“We feel helpless, we are returning as it is now a government order,” said Ariful Sardar, a bricklayer who came three years ago for his father’s treatment.