"Branded Foreigners by Both Nations: India Pushes Muslims Toward Bangladesh"

On May 31, 67-year-old bicycle mechanic Ali returned to his home in Assam after spending four traumatic days stranded at the India-Bangladesh border. He was one of over 300 Muslims in Assam who were allegedly "pushed back" into Bangladesh by Indian authorities under a renewed crackdown on “declared foreign nationals”—a classification unique to Assam that targets individuals accused of being illegal immigrants. His ordeal began on May 23 when police picked him up from his rented home in Kuyadal, Morigaon district. He was later taken to the Matia detention centre in Goalpara, Assam’s largest facility for undocumented migrants.

Assam, a tea-producing state, has long experienced ethnic tensions due to the migration and settlement of Bengali-speaking communities over the past century. These tensions have escalated significantly since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came to power in the state in 2016. Assam has the highest proportion of Muslims among Indian states—over one-third of its 31 million people.

Ali’s case is emblematic of the state’s ongoing "pushback" strategy, confirmed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who stated that the state would intensify these measures in the interest of preserving Assam’s demographic character.

After his arrest, Ali and 13 others, including five women, were transported by the Border Security Force (BSF) on May 27 to the India-Bangladesh border. There, the group was reportedly forced to cross over. However, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and local residents refused to accept them, stating they were Indians. As a result, the group was stranded in no-man’s land for 12 hours in knee-deep water without food or shelter.

A viral image of Ali crouched in the swamp captured national attention. He described the experience as “hell underneath the blue sky,” claiming BSF personnel shot rubber bullets at them when they tried to return to India. He said it felt as though they belonged to no country. Rahima Begum, another victim from Assam’s Golaghat district, shared similar experiences, alleging she was beaten by BGB guards and threatened with death by BSF if she refused to cross into Bangladesh.

Journalist Jiten Chandra Das from Rowmari, a Bangladeshi border town, corroborated their stories, stating he witnessed BSF firing rubber bullets and live rounds into the air to intimidate the stranded group. However, the BSF denied these allegations in a May 27 statement, claiming they were only preventing unauthorized entry of Bangladeshi nationals into India.

Following pressure from local Bangladeshis and senior BGB officials, the standoff ended. BGB dropped Ali at a border point in Meghalaya, from where he walked ten hours through dense forest to return home. According to an Assam Sentinel report on May 31, the BSF later received 65 people from the BGB.

Some of those pushed toward Bangladesh said around 100 individuals returned independently after the BGB abandoned them at the border. These claims remain unverified. Returnees also alleged that unidentified men in civilian clothes received them and later deserted them on highways.

This intensified expulsion effort coincided with a surge in anti-Muslim sentiment across India following an April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, allegedly carried out by Pakistan-based militants.