Election or no election, particularly at poll time, the violent hysteria generated by the misnomer “Bangladeshi immigrants/infiltrator”, has had its intended murderous impact. According to data released by the West Bengal Migrants Welfare Board, 12 migrant workers have been recently murdered in six BJP-ruled states. Four of the 12 hapless victims have been from Maharashtra. States like Assam, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have reported one such killing each while Odisha, also ruled by the majoritarian saffron party has reported to deaths.
Besides these killings, a staggering 1,143 documented complaints of physical and mental harm against Bengali speaking migrants have also been reported. The harassment includes illegal or irregular detentions by the police authorities and labourers threatened or brutalised. This Bengali newspaper has documented these here.
As far back as September 2025, Citizens for Justice and Peace, had submitted a comprehensive complaint to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), highlighting what it described as an “alarming and coordinated escalation of hate speech” across India. The complaint documents how Bengali-origin Muslims, many of whom are lawful Indian citizens, are being systematically vilified as “Bangladeshis” and “ghuspaithiye” (infiltrators) in election rallies, public protests, and online campaigns. The details of CJP’s submissions to the NCM Chairperson may be read here.
In this complaint, the notorious chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma’s hate speeches, the speeches by Situ Barua of Jatiya Sangrami Sena and Milan Buragohain of All Tai Ahom Students’ Union, both accused of stopping buses and threatening Muslim labourers to “vacate Upper Assam,” that by Bir Lachit Sen, whose followers reportedly conducted door-to-door “document checks” and forced evictions were included.
Besides there were other such targeted speeches made in Bihar, Delhi and Maharashtra. Maharashtra that has seen four such murders happening has both in the state and local bodies now got the BJP firmly in the saddle of power. Only last week, the newly sworn in Mayor of Mumbai (sworn in close to a month after the election results) vowed “to crackdown on hawkers in the city and ordered birth certificate checks” as part of a “crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi nationals living in the city,” reported India Today.
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