CAA is effective in West Bengal, Shuvendur’s announcement to send back ‘illegal’ Bangladeshis

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Chief Minister Subvendu Adhikari has announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of the Government of India, 2019 in West Bengal from Wednesday. As a result of his announcement on Wednesday, all those who entered India after December 31, 2024 will be considered illegal.

Shuvendu said the West Bengal Police will hand over the illegals to the Border Security Force (BSF), the border guarding force of India. They will hand over the border guarding force of Bangladesh to the BGB.

Newly elected West Bengal Chief Minister Subvendu Adhikari said this after a meeting with BSF officials in Navanna on Wednesday. Explaining the matter in detail at the event, Subhendu said that the Indian government sent a directive to the West Bengal government on May 14, 2025. The directive was sent to hand over illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators directly to the BSF. The Act to Extradite Illegal Infiltrators was also sent by Under Secretary Pratap Singh Rawat on behalf of the Government of India. But the then West Bengal government did not take any action.

On the one hand, the previous government of West Bengal opposed the granting of CAA (citizenship) to refugees, and on the other hand, it did not utilize this ‘important opportunity or law’, said Shuvendu, ‘From today we have implemented this law. As a result, the CAA includes those who… The CAA mentions seven communities or religious people who will be covered under the Citizenship Amendment Act. Those who have come till December 31, 2024, the police will not be able to harass them anywhere.

Among the seven communities covered by the CAA are the Muslim communities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Some amendments to the Act have been made in 2024. For this reason, people who come to India will be legally considered citizens if they enter by December 31, 2024 instead of December 31, 2014. However, this does not apply to the Muslim people of Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.

Chief Minister Subhendu Adhikari has announced that if the intruders are found, they will be arrested. He said, “Those who are not covered by the CAA are completely illegal intruders. They will be directly arrested and detained by the state police and handed over to the BSF. BSF will talk to BDR to deport them ie detect, delete, deport. These words were also used in the West Bengal BJP’s election manifesto.

Stating that the Director General of Police and Home Secretary have been informed about the matter, Shuvendu said, “We have implemented this law from today in the interest of the country and in the interest of West Bengal in all the police stations near the border of West Bengal.”

India’s border with Bangladesh is 4000 km. Out of this 2 thousand 200 km is with West Bengal. Reminding this, Shuvendu Adhikari said in the press conference that in the remaining four states (Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya) the government there has handed over the entire land as per the demand of BSF (Border Security Force). 1,600 km out of 2,200 km has been fenced in this state. Approximately 600 km of barbed wire fencing is not provided. He blamed Mamata Banerjee’s government for this.

Announcing the transfer of land to BSF, the new Chief Minister Subhendu said, “We are going to start the process of transfer of land as soon as the present government comes to power. Today we launched the necessary public and private land to secure the 27 km area, which we have purchased and which is fully funded by the Border Guard Force of India…we launched it.”

Shuvendu Adhikari mentioned that the West Bengal government will give the land that needs to be given to BSF. He said, “Wherever it is possible to give a barbed wire to the question of border security, we will arrange it very quickly.”