India’s ‘push-in’ policy: What is the message for Bangladesh?
VISUAL: BIPLOB CHAKROBORTY
In a region already riddled with border disputes, demographic anxieties, and geopolitical tensions, India has added a controversial new chapter to its neighbourhood diplomacy. Over the past few weeks, New Delhi has unleashed a wave of "push-in" operations, forcibly expelling alleged illegal migrants—mostly Bangla-speaking Muslims—into Bangladesh, without due process, verification or diplomatic coordination. These actions are not just inhumane or unlawful; they are a clear violation of international norms, aimed at pressuring Dhaka and reasserting regional dominance at a time when Delhi's Kashmir calculus lies in tatters. How else would you describe the situation when poor, vulnerable people were flown across states and dropped at the border of a sovereign nation? In any other global context, this would have made headlines: mass deportations without trial, detentions without court appearances, and midnight border dumps of children, women, and even Rohingya refugees protected under UNHCR mandates.
But when it comes to India, global outrage has a strange habit of taking a sabbatical.
Let us connect the dots. Despite its muscular rhetoric, Delhi's realpolitik ambitions are facing diminishing returns. Having failed to assert itself against Pakistan, and amid increasing tensions with China, it seems India now sees Bangladesh as the safer punching bag—the soft target next door.
Push-in operations are not just about a few hundred unfortunates being kicked across the barbed wires. They are political signals—of frustration and control. It is a continuation of a pattern, an imperial hangover dressed as a "regional security policy."
The absurdity of India's push-in narrative lies in its shifting justifications. According to Indian sources, the "illegal migrants" being expelled are Bangladeshis. Yet, several media reports suggest that among those detained in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Tripura are Indian Bangla-speaking Muslims—some allegedly with valid Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, and decades-long residence records. In many cases, entire families were picked up in random raids, herded into detention centres, and dispatched to border areas, as though they were disposable items in a political experiment.
Consider the grotesque irony: India, a country that has hosted Tibetan refugees, Sri Lankan Tamils, and Afghans, is now unable—or perhaps unwilling—to distinguish between its own marginalised citizens and foreign nationals. Bangla-speaking Muslims from West Bengal and Assam have been allegedly rounded up alongside suspected Bangladeshis. This is not immigration enforcement; it is demographic profiling, cloaked in the BJP's nationalist jargon.
Intelligence reports warn that India's push-in game bears eerie similarities to Myanmar's infamous ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas. Like the generals in Naypyidaw, Delhi seems to believe that forcibly transferring "unwanted" populations into a neighbouring country will help clean up its demographic and security problems. In fact, at least five Rohingya refugees with verified UNHCR cards from India were among those recently pushed into Bangladesh. Some were blindfolded, airlifted from Gujarat, and dumped near border char lands in Shyamnagar, ill and injured.
One such detainee, Obaidul Khandaker from Cooch Behar, testified to the BBC that he showed his Indian identity documents, only to be told they needed "verification." After 10 days in detention—with barely any food, no legal hearing, and no information to his family—he returned home to find his house looted and his power line cut. He says he will never again work in India's western states. So we ask: is this the "vishwaguru" that India claims itself to be?
Intelligence reports warn that India's push-in game bears eerie similarities to Myanmar's infamous ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas. Like the generals in Naypyidaw, Delhi seems to believe that forcibly transferring "unwanted" populations into a neighbouring country will help clean up its demographic and security problems. In fact, at least five Rohingya refugees with verified UNHCR cards from India were among those recently pushed into Bangladesh. Some were blindfolded, airlifted from Gujarat, and dumped near border char lands in Shyamnagar, ill and injured.
It also speaks volumes about India's evolving security doctrine, which no longer sees soft power and cooperation as tools of influence in South Asia. Today it's push-in, forcibly into its neighbour. Tomorrow it may be "push-out" of bilateral trade deals, water treaties, and transit arrangements.
The 4,096-km Bangladesh-India border is already among the most militarised in the world, with more than 3,200 km fenced. One would assume such a landscape was meant to prevent illegal crossings. Instead, it's now a human conveyor belt where the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) plays the role of a forceful usher, marching off detainees and dumping them unannounced on Bangladeshi soil.
Between May 4 and May 15 alone, 370 people were pushed into Bangladesh, including minors, pregnant women, and elderly individuals. Some were tortured, according to a report by The Daily Star. Others arrived barefoot, starved, and terrified. These actions are in clear violation of international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—both of which India is a signatory to.
More importantly, India's actions shred the very spirit of neighbourly cooperation. India did not consult Dhaka. It did not provide proper documentation. And when approached through diplomatic channels, its Ministry of External Affairs replied with radial silence. India has not even confirmed whether those expelled are verified Bangladeshis. India's Ministry of Home Affairs, under whose directive the detentions have intensified post-Pahalgam attack, has yet to clarify why Bangalee Muslims from West Bengal and Assam were caught in this dragnet. Instead, Rajasthan Law Minister Jogaram Patel publicly bragged about flying "Bangladeshis" to Kolkata.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has a history of making inflammatory anti-Muslim statements, has endorsed a "pushback mechanism" to "check infiltration."
Dhaka must not remain silent. The Bangladesh foreign ministry's timid letter to New Delhi, regarding India's attempt to push in people into Bangladesh, is hardly adequate. What we need is vocal, strategic, and multilateral diplomacy. We must raise this issue at the UN, UNHCR, and other international human rights forums. Bangladesh must also demand clarity on these operations from India. The government should document and archive each push-in case, and explore legal avenues to hold India accountable.
Additionally, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) must enhance surveillance and refuse entry to any individual not processed through bilateral mechanisms. Bangladesh should not be made the dumping ground for India's communal anxieties. Let it be said clearly: if India wants to be the regional leader it claims to be, it must first stop such disruptive actions. Friendship cannot be built on fear, nor can neighbourhood policy be guided by electoral calculations or RSS paranoia.
H.M. Nazmul Alam is an academic, journalist, and political analyst.
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