Debabrata Saikia, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, has raised serious concerns on the state government’s recent actions of illegally detaining, without due process or law, legitimate Assamese citizens in the name of “pushing back” allegedly undocumented migrants to Bangladesh. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, he has also stated that the actions of the state authorities clearly appear to disproportionately target Muslims, undermining India’s secular fabric.
On May 30, last Friday, late evening, Saikia released this letter in a social media post on Meta-Facebook. He wrote:
“BJP government has created a new conspiracy against minority society in the name of foreign deportation in Assam. Under the leadership of the new BJP Himanta Biswa Sharma, RSS is taking care to terrorize the Muslim society. Let foreigners be deported. This is what I want for sure. Assam is first for the people of Assam – this is my total belief. But I am totally against the “Muslim means Bangladeshi” ethnicity which has been created. India is famous as Assam Shankar-Ajan country. BJP is trying today to start a brotherhood conflict. That’s why hand-in-hand guns now. We want to see the books in the hands of our young Sam, not the grenades. They are trying to enforce the situation in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in Assam. The Chief Minister is now like a Sasemira, whoever does not ask, he says Pakistan in the answer. I am expressing all these things through two memorandum in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Home Department yesterday. Read it.”
The letter sent by Saikia may be read below.
Saikia has, in this communication, accused the Assam Police of violating constitutional rights and due process in these operations. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has also petitioned the Governor, protesting the “continued” harassment of Indian Muslims on the pretext of identifying “illegal immigrants.”
Saikia claimed that since May 23, hundreds of Indian citizens, including some not involved in any citizenship-related legal proceedings, have been “arbitrarily detained.” While some have been released, these detentions highlight “serious procedural lapses.”
Citing media reports, Saikia alleged that several detainees, including women, were forcibly pushed into the “no man’s land” along the Indo-Bangladesh border, leaving them stateless as Bangladesh refuses to accept them. One such case involves Khairul Islam, a former government school teacher whose citizenship case is still pending before the Supreme Court, yet he was allegedly picked up from a detention centre and forced across the border.
Saikia emphasized that since several citizenship cases are pending before the apex court, these detentions and pushbacks constitute a “clear violation of the judicial process.” The Supreme Court itself has previously issued interim directions stating that no coercive steps should be taken against individuals whose cases are sub judice.
While most detainees were eventually released, their wrongful apprehension itself points to serious procedural lapses. Families remain uninformed about the whereabouts of detainees, violating basic transparency norms. Media reports confirm that many detainees, including women, have been forcibly pushed into the no-man’s-land at the India-Bangladesh border, leaving them stateless as Bangladesh refuses to accept them.
In this letter dated May 30 May Saikia highlighted several serious violations of constitutional rights and due process in what is being termed as Assam’s “push back drive.”
Saikia reminded the EAM that this action directly contradicts India’s stated position on deportation, quoting Dr. Jaishankar’s own parliamentary statement that emphasized the necessity of “unambiguous verification of nationality” before any repatriation. The letter notes with concern that these operations appear to target Muslim communities, undermining India’s secular fabric. It also points out that several cases are still pending before the Supreme Court, making these detentions and pushbacks a clear violation of the judicial process.
Saikia has urgently appealed for central intervention to immediately halt these unconstitutional actions, ensure proper nationality verification before any deportation, release all wrongly detained Indian citizens, and make detainee information publicly available.
He stressed that pushing people in the no-man’s-land without proper legal procedure is both illegal and fundamentally inhumane. Saikia said,“Pushing Indian citizens into no-man’s-land without verification is unconstitutional and fundamentally inhumane. The repatriation during the pendency of a Supreme Court case constitutes a grave breach of the judicial process. This further violates international human rights standards.”
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been accused of late for aggressive hate speeches against minorities has been reported to have stated that the state is “duty-bound to protect the interests” of Assam and “expel all illegal immigrants from the state through any means and as per directions of the Supreme Court.”
The CM also claimed that persons with pending citizenship cases are not being detained. The state government has adopted a “push back” route as a solution to its long struggle for deporting “illegal migrants.”
Human rights organizations and affected families express deep concerns about the humanitarian consequences of these actions, including prolonged detention, family separation, and the risk of statelessness. The Supreme Court has also previously criticized the indefinite detention of declared “foreigners” and urged the state to expedite deportations.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that only declared foreigners are being pushed back as per the law.
However media reports, and an exclusive Ground Report by Citizens for Justice and Peace, suggests to the country. This may be read here.
First, a video has emerged in the ‘no man’s land’ along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam’s South Salmara Mankachar district, Where Khairul Islam’s claimed that he is an Indian national and being deported to Bangladesh. Islam was among nine persons arrested by Morigaon police on May 24 in a crackdown on illegal immigrants declared by the Foreigners’ Tribunal, but who had been avoiding deportation.
Himanto Biswas Sarma, Chief Minister, Assam, was reported to have said on May 30, “The Supreme Court has directed us declared foreign nationals must be sent back. Declared foreigners who did not appeal in the court we had been pushed back. On Thursday we apprehended 35 Bangladeshi nationals along the Meghalaya and Silchar border. They came some days back and we instantly pushed them back.”
He added, “In meeting with SPs in Dergaon we have decided that we will fast track the process of detection of foreigners. As the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process was underway, detection of foreigners was temporarily suspended. So in the days to come detection will take place, push back will be done and the government of India after talks with the Bangladesh government will send some foreigners. So these three ways will continue.”
Chief Minister said, “Whoever has not gone to higher judiciary despite being declared a foreigner, and not preferred appeal against the tribunal order, they must go. We have 30,000 people who despite being declared foreigners have disappeared, if we find somewhere we have to take action against them. Whatever is done is as per law.”
However ground level claims contradict what Sarma has stated. For example, Khairul Islam was declared a foreigner by the Foreigners Tribunal in 2016, a decision he challenged in the Gauhati High Court. The High Court upheld the FT’s ruling, leading to his detention in 2018. Documents reveal that the appeal against the FT decision is pending before the Supreme Court and the last hearing was in December 2024.
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