Considered An Intruder, Thousands Of Muslims Expelled From India To The Bangladesh Border Living In A Blue Tent

JAKARTA - Hundreds of Muslims, including women and children, were forced to live under a blue tarpaulin in India's northeastern corner near the border with Bangladesh.

They are part of an increasingly intensive wave of forced evictions in the State of Assam ahead of the state's elections.

Thousands of families have lost their homes in recent weeks, after the authorities evicted houses that were said to be standing on government-owned land. This eviction has become one of the most aggressive measures in recent decades in Assam.

This move coincides with the national crackdown on the Muslim community of Good language who is labeled an 'illegal intruder' from Bangladesh. This wave has strengthened since the overthrow of the pro-Indian prime minister in Dhaka in August 2024.

"The government continues to disturb us," said Aran Ali, 53, a resident of Goalpara District, Assam, while pointing to a plot of vacant land which is now an emergency residence for his family.

"We are accused of being illegal immigrants and foreigners," he continued. Ali stated that he was born and raised in Assam, but still considered not a legal citizen by the authorities.

Assam has a 262-kilometer-long border line out of a total of 4,097 kilometers India's border with Bangladesh. Over the years, the region has grappled with anti-immigrant sentiment, which has been fueled by concerns that Migrants of mines both Hindus and Muslims will threaten local culture and economy.

However, this time, under the administration of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, specifically targeted the Muslim community. These actions even sparked protests, which led to the death of a teenager a few days ago.

Assam's Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is known as a vocal figure for BJP and is often accused of fueling religious tensions ahead of the election. He repeatedly mentioned that the infiltration of Muslims from Bangladesh' is a threat to India's identity.

"We firmly reject uncontrolled Muslim infiltration from across borders, which has led to worrying demographic changes," he wrote on social media platform X.

Sarma said, in several districts, Hindus are now on the verge of becoming minorities in their homeland. He also said that the Muslim migrant population reached 30 percent of Assam's total 31 million population by 2011 census. In the coming years, the minority population in Assam will approach 50 percent," he told the media last week.

Sarma did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.