From migration to exodus: Journey of B’deshis as SIR fear grips Bengal

FOr almost deuce decades, Anoyara Bibi lived in a shanty with her fellowship of phoebe and worked as a ragpicker at Mahishbathan in common salt Lake close Kolkata.Since November 17, though, Bibi is stationed under a banyan tree, a few metres from the Border Security Force check post at Hakimpur in North 24 Parganas, barely 500 metres from the India-Bangladesh international border.The 75-year-old is waiting for her turn to cross the border. Because despite her prolonged stay in India, she is a Bangladeshi citizen.“I am a resident of Satkhira in Bangladesh. I have the documents to prove that I am a Bangladeshi. I came to West Bengal after illegally crossing the border around 20 years ago and now I am going,” she said, adding that “I came here with my husband. We never went back. This is the first time I am going back to Bangladesh”.The reason? The controversial special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls underway in Bengal. The SIR — which led to the deletion of 6.9 million names in Bihar and the addition of 2.15 million names — is not explicitly designed or aimed to prove citizenship and only focusses on confirming one’s eligibility to be a part of the electoral roll.But Bibi said that rumours were flying in Bengal that the SIR would flush Bangladeshis out. “We heard that the SIR has started and Bangladeshis would be flushed out, so we are leaving... I could not stay here anymore as the SIR was launched,” said the illegal immigrant.Even though she did not have a voter card, she procured an Aadhaar card in 2015 which gave her address as “Barokpat, Polenite, Bidhannagar, Krishnapur, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal – 700102. HT has seen the Aadhaar card.Now, her most precious possession is a certificate, which HT has seen, issued by the chairman’s office of 10 Atulia Union Parishad at Shyamnagar in Bangladesh’s Satkhira. It states that she is a resident of Satkhira and is known to the chairman.She isn’t the only one. Over the past week, hundreds of people have queued up at the Hakimpur check post, admitting that they illegally entered India and now want to be sent back to Bangladesh. “We heard that Bangladeshis would be arrested as they had come to India illegally. We don’t want to get arrested and that’s why we are leaving,” said Sirajul Sardar, another resident of Satkhira.Porous border, kinship ties The SIR began in Bengal on November 4. Under the process, a booth-level officer visits a house and presents the voter with a partially filled form where the particulars of the voter have to be filled in, and supported by one of 12 documents approved by the Election Commission of India (ECI). For people whose names featured in the 2002 voter rolls, no additional documents are necessary.For decades, opposition parties in Bengal have complained that a porous border and kinship ties stretching across the international border have fuelled infiltration from Bangladesh. Hakimpur appeared to back the allegations. HT saw dozens of families waiting within 10 metres from the BSF check post. Men, women and children of all ages were huddled up under trees and shops on one side of the road. More families could be spotted around the check post.“I came to India around 12 years back with my family. We stay in a shanty in Hooghly district. There were eight of us. The tout who helped us to cross the border at night took ₹2,000 for each member. Now that SIR has been launched, we need to go back to Bangladesh. We don’t have any Indian documents. We just arranged a certificate from Satkhira in Bangladesh to prove our Bangladeshi citizenship,” said Khokon Gaji, 58.A senior BSF officer aware of the developments said that between November 4 and November 18, at least 1,275 Bangladeshis were held in south Bengal while trying to cross the border.“We followed the due process,” said NK Pandey, DIG of BSF’s South Bengal Frontier.“The main exodus is happening through Hakimpur. There are a few other checkpoints through which some people may have crossed. But the number is negligible,” said a senior BSF official, asking not to be named.“On November 18 only, at least 160 were held while trying to cross the border,” this officer said.“My parents arrived here on Monday and they have already crossed the border after the BSF checked their documents. I arrived here on Tuesday night with my wife and two sons and are waiting for our turn. We came to India around five years ago,” said Salim Sardar, 22, a resident of Jessore.Most people HT met said they heard that the SIR had been launched to flush out illegal immigrants and that they could be arrested and sent to jail. A few others said that even though they came to India in search of jobs and crossed the border by paying money to touts, they never returned as the need didn’t arise. Additionally, to cross the border and return to Bangladesh would cost them as there was also the risk of getting caught by BSF. Now that the BSF was facilitating their return, many have came to the border.Multi-layered scrutinyThe protocol to legally cross an international border is onerous.“Each one of them has to undergo multiple layers of checking before they are allowed to cross over. First, we are noting down the person’s name, address (in India and Bangladesh) and his contact number at the check post. Then they are taken to the BSF’s camp closer to the border, which is around 500 metres from the check post, for more rounds of checking,” said a BSF personnel posted at the check post.The person has to admit on camera that he or she is a Bangladeshi national and had entered India. They are then questioned by the BSF’s intelligence wing and anti-human trafficking wing to ensure that they are not associated with any nefarious activities.Once at the camp, they have to undergo a retina scan and give their fingerprints which are stored. This is done to ensure that the person can’t get an Indian document in future. If they somehow manage to return to India and try to procure an Indian document, they would get caught as the authorities already have their biometrics.“Once everything is checked, a meeting is held with officials of the Border Guard Bangladesh in the morning so that they can be handed over. On an average the BGB takes back 10 – 15 people every day. The rest are pushed back at night,” said a BSF personnel at Hakimpur check post. He added that the remaining have to wait for their turn the next day.A never-ending political slugfestThe exodus has triggered a political controversy.“The BJP has been saying for long that illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas have been swelling over the years...now with the SIR being rolled out and thousands of Bangladeshis trying to flee has just proved our point. The state government failed to flush them out, The SIR did it. This is the magic of SIR,” said Rahul Sinha, senior BJP leader.The Trinamool Congress (TMC) hit back.“The question is not how they are going back. The real question is how they entered India. The BSF, which is under the Union home ministry, mans the border. The illegal immigrants must have entered India because of some kind of gratification or arrangement,” said Jay Prakash Majumdar, TMC’s state vice president and spokesperson.Among the illegal immigrants, the fear of arrests looms large. “I have been waiting here since Monday morning. My turn hasn’t come yet. I am not sure when I can go back. Let them push me back to Bangladesh,” said Sirajul Sardar. “It is better than getting caught and being sent to jail.”