Bengal: Row over relaxation in central rules for Bangladeshi non-Muslim migrants

Bengal minister Sashashi Panja alleged that the new notification is a diversionary tactic and the BJP’s real intention is to enforce CAA and NRC in the state

Kolkata: The Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, issued by the Union home ministry on September 1 has triggered a political row in Bengal as it has stated that Bangladeshi non-Muslims who entered India on or before December 31, 2024 to escape religious persecution will be eligible for citizenship even if they don’t have any valid document or passport.

The new home ministry rule has been issued under the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025. (Representational image)

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which Parliament passed in 2019, said these people will be eligible for citizenship if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

The new rule, although not connected to CAA, has triggered a tussle between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to the 2026 Bengal assembly polls.

Commerce and industries minister Sashashi Panja alleged on Wednesday that the notification “is a diversionary tactic” and the BJP’s real intention is to enforce CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal.

Panja said: “Our party chairperson Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee have reiterated in the past that CAA will not be allowed (in Bengal). The recent order of the ministry of home affairs is a diversionary tactic. It extends the deadline for CAA. And, CAA will follow NRC. It is their ploy.”

“What the Election Commission of India (ECI) is doing through the SIR (special intensive revision of electoral roll) is also the backdoor for NRC. Our party continues to oppose CAA and NRC,” she said.

CAA offers expedited citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists and Christians who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh on or before December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution. The TMC claims it is unconstitutional to link citizenship to faith in a secular country.

The new home ministry rule, a copy of which was seen by HT, has been issued under the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025. It revises the Registration of Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 1957 and Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Order, 2007.

The rule offers citizenship to members of the same non-Muslim communities from the three neighbouring countries on the same ground covered under CAA even if they don’t have “valid documents including passport or other travel documents” or, have documents that have expired.

Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya welcomed the rule and alleged that TMC solely depends on illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh to win elections.

“Before Bangladesh was born in 1971, it witnessed the biggest genocide of Hindus by the Pakistan army. The torture on Hindus has started again in Bangladesh. These people are leaving everything behind to take shelter here. Who else but the BJP will speak for them?” Bhattacharya said.

“The revision in the Foreigner’s Act will automatically change the format of the CAA application form. I cannot explain the legalities but the ministry will certainly do it,” Bhattacharya added.

Mounting pressure on the TMC, Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, the BJP legislator from English Bazar in Malda, the district with Bengal’s second-highest Muslim population, claimed that her party will not let ECI hold the 2026 polls unless it carries out SIR first.

“We will not let EC hold the polls without SIR. We will cordon the EC office in Delhi if our demand is not met,” she said.

The row has erupted days after the TMC accused the All India Matua Mahasangha of issuing the organisation’s identity cards and religion certificate to Bangladeshi migrants who entered India after December 31, 2014 to help them apply for citizenship despite being ineligible under CAA.

BJP leader and Union minister of state for shipping Shantanu Thakur was targeted by the TMC as he is the Mahasangha president.

Included in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, the Dalit Matuas entered India in thousands after Partition and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. They influence election results in around 74 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats, according to surveys done by the TMC and the BJP.

Several BJP leaders are holding CAA camps for Hindu Bangladeshi migrants in the districts bordering Bangladesh.