Operation ‘Push-back’: How India is getting rid of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and Rohingya infiltrators, one step at a time

On Thursday (22nd May), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has called upon Bangladesh to help expedite the deportation of their citizens, who are illegally staying in India.

Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was heard saying, “We have a large number of Bangladeshi nationals in India who are required to be deported. We have asked the Bangladeshi side to verify the nationality. We have a pending list of more than 2360 cases of people required to be deported.”

“Many of them have completed the jail process. In many cases, the nationality verification process has been pending since 2020,” he emphasised.

For decades, India has followed established protocols to deport Bangladeshi infilitrators and Rohingyas to their home country.

The process has been slow (pending trial in courts), cumbersome (because Bangladesh government and Bangladesh Border Guard often refuse to acknowledge their own citizens) and has failed to attain success.

The situation has been excaerbated due to continued illegal immigration through the porous India-Bangladesh border with the help of agents and brokers but not enough deportations year-on-year.

For the unversed, there are more than 2 crore Bangladeshis living illegally in India (2016 data).

Following the undemocratic ouster of Sheikh Hasina and the hostile attitude of the Yunus-led interim government, the deportation protocol has been rendered useless by Bangladesh.

Forced by circumstances, the Indian government has now resorted to what is being unofficially referred to as ‘Operation Push-back.’

What is Operation Push-back

The Indian government has devised a new strategy to get rid of Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas who are caught red-handed at the Eastern border as well as living in India illegally for several years.

Instead of going through the hassle of handing them over to the police, registering a FIR, producing them before the court, continuing trials for years and then sending them back through established protocols, the Indian security forces are now increasingly pushing-back the infiltrators to the other side almost instantenously.

‘Operation Push-back’ has been in motion since April 2025. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was quoted as saying –

“Infiltration is a big issue. We have now decided we will not go through the legal process. Earlier, decision was to arrest a person and then bring him to the Indian legal system… Earlier also we used to arrest 1,000-1,500 foreigners…they must be sent to jail and then they are produced before a court of law. Now, we have decided that we will not bring them inside the country, we will push them. This pushing back is a new phenomenon. Every year, 5,000 people enter the country and because of pushback this number will become minimise now.”

In cases where Bangladeshis are nabbed from different cities of India (far from the Eastern borders), they are first flown to either Tripura, Assam or West Bengal and then pushed over to Bangladeshi side.

One such case was reported on 4th May this year. Two Air India flights carrying 300 Bangladeshis landed in Agartala from Gujarat. The illegal immigrants were deported via the land border.

On 14th May, Rajasthan BJP Minister Jogaram Patel informed that 148 Bangladeshis were transported to Kolkata from Jodhpur and thereafter deported to Bangladesh. Prior to being taken to Kolkata, the illegal immigrants were housed in a make-shift detention centre.

Several States in India have stepped up the process of identification of illegal immigrants. Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan stated that a Special Task Force (STF) has been formed to nab Bangladeshis living in the State.

“The government has taken a tough stand. No foreign national without valid legal status will be allowed to stay in Odisha. The identification process has already begun and will be carried out meticulously in all districts…Different engineering departments of the state government have been asked not to engage any Bangladesh or foreign nationals without valid documents,” he pointed out.

According to the data shared by Tripura police, a whopping 816 Bangladeshis and 79 Rohingyas had been apprehended while illegally entering India through the State between 1st January 2024 and 28th February 2025.

Tripura has deported 1,746 Bangladeshis between 2022 and 31st October 2024. It shares a 856-km-long border with Bangladesh on 3 sides, and some parts of the border are still unfenced owing to local disputes.

The impact of crackdown on infilitrators have been successful so much so that some Bangladeshis are now ‘voluntarily returning‘ to their home country.

Yunus regime taken aback by India’s swift action against illegal Bangladeshis

The interim government of Bangladesh, led by ‘chief advisor’ Muhammad Yunus has been rattled by India’s paradigm shift in strategy at dealing with infiltrators.

On 8th May, his Foreign Minister wrote to India to raise concerns over ‘people being pushed into the country and urged New Delhi to adhere to established repatriation mechanisms.’

“For the sake of peace and stability along the Bangladesh–India border, such push-ins are unacceptable and should be avoided,” it claimed.

In the meantime, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has set a 30-day deadline for verification of the credentials of illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, following which they would deported (mostly through Operation Push-back).