In recent weeks, slum demolitions and detentions targeting Bengali-speaking migrants, most of them Muslim, have intensified across Indian cities, with Gurugram emerging as a grim epicentre. Under the pretext of weeding out “illegal immigrants,” police in BJP-ruled Haryana have rounded up hundreds of domestic workers, ragpickers, cleaners, and sanitation workers — vital cogs in the city’s infrastructure — and held them in what authorities euphemistically call “holding centres”
According to The Wire, on July 19 the police detained at least 74 migrant workers — 11 from West Bengal and 63 from Assam — whom they suspected were undocumented Bangladeshis. These numbers just kept rising as the days proceeded. While nearly all have since been released following sustained public outcry, Hindustan Times reported that ten individuals remain in custody, alleged to be “confirmed Bangladeshis,” with deportation proceedings underway. Gurugram Police PRO Sandeep Kumar, according to Hindustan Times, said these ten are “confirmed Bangladeshis” and immigration proceedings have begun. However, officials have failed to provide clarity on the basis for these designations or the total number detained beyond the approximate figures.
“They said we are from Bangladesh. I had my Aadhaar card and voter ID, but they didn’t care,” said Hafizur Sheikh, as reported by Kashmir Media Service, a cleaner from West Bengal’s Nadia district, who was taken into custody on July 19 despite offering to procure physical copies of his documentation.
A campaign marked by fear and prejudice
The operation has induced widespread panic in migrant-dense neighbourhoods. NewsLaundry and other outlets documented how nearly 400 out of 500 Bengali-speaking workers in Sector 49’s “Bengali Market” fled the area in fear of police action, many carrying luggage by their doors in case they were detained at night.
In interviews, detainees described being picked up solely due to language or origin — Bengali speakers from Assam or Bengal targeted, held for days, denied legal counsel or phone access, forced to sign unexplained documents, and often stripped of mobile phones permanently, as per the reports of The Wire and Hindustan Times.
Fatima Begum, a domestic worker detained en route to work, recounts evenings of her children crying unanswered in the absence of her. “No one told us why we were held,” she said. According to the report of Hindustan Times, Aisha Khatun added: “Even after being released, we are scared to step outside”.
The drive has also sown panic in migrant-dense neighbourhoods. The Wire found that Khatola village, home to nearly 2,000 Assamese Muslim workers, was eerily deserted, with only a handful of women left. “We stayed because our husbands are inside [detention centres],” said Rohima. “But most have fled to Dhubri in Assam.”
In interviews with The Wire, detainees described being picked up based solely on their language or place of origin. Some said they were held for days, denied access to communication or legal aid, and forced to sign papers before being released without explanation. Mobile phones were confiscated and, in many cases, never returned.
In Palam Vihar, landlords have started evicting Bengali-speaking tenants under police pressure. Migrants are boarding buses to Murshidabad, Malda, Barpeta, and Karimganj, afraid that their turn will come next, according to The Tribune.
A drive rooted in Delhi’s directives
The detentions align with a May 2, 2025 directive from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs mandating states to identify and deport undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, granting a 30-day window for verification under specified guidelines, according to the report of Times of India. In keeping, Gurugram set up four operational holding centres, a move confirmed by Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar in the Kashmir Media Service report, though detailed detainee counts and procedural transparency remain undisclosed.
Gurugram police have claimed the drive was part of ongoing verification operations and that most detainees were released after district-level identity confirmation. Arpit Jain, DCP (Headquarters), said suspects were “kept in holding areas till verification completed,” though he did not define the exact criteria or process for such determinations, as reported in The Week.
Voices of Resistance and Anguish
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the crackdown, calling it targeted, discriminatory and an attack on Bengalis across India.
The second most spoken language in the country, Bangla, is also the second most spoken language of Assam.
To threaten citizens, who want to coexist peacefully respecting all languages and religions, with persecution for upholding their own mother tongue is discriminatory and…
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 19, 2025
Have been increasingly receiving reports of detentions of and atrocities on our Bengali-speaking people from different districts of West Bengal in Gurgaon, Haryana. West Bengal police is receiving these reports from Haryana police in the name of requests for identity searches.…
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 24, 2025
TMC MP Mahua Moitra, likened the situation to “living in Nazi Germany.”
Nazi BJP targeting Bengalis. We will not tolerate these brazen attacks on our linguistic & ethnic identity. My interview on @timesofindia pic.twitter.com/jRXPreIozd
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) July 28, 2025
Attention! Migrant workers from Bengal being picked up illegally by @gurgaonpolice, is Sector 10 A community center an illegal detention camp? Maids, cooks, menial workers living in complete terror. #NaziGermany pic.twitter.com/uTaSQIK3s0
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) July 24, 2025
Asaduddin Owaisi, MP from Hyderabad, called the mass detentions illegal and classist: “This government acts strong with the weak, and weak with the strong. Most of those who are accused of being “illegal immigrants” are the poorest of the poor: slum-dwellers, cleaners, domestic workers, rag-pickers, etc.”
Police in different parts of India have been illegally detaining Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens and accusing them of being Bangladeshi. There have been disturbing reports of Indian citizens being pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint. This government acts strong with the weak, and… https://t.co/wtQEKiDAaL pic.twitter.com/9BRSWsf31k
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) July 26, 2025
On July 21, CPI-ML’s Supanta Sinha visited one of the Gurugram detention centres and described conditions as “inhumane.” The party has threatened legal action, calling the entire operation unconstitutional. Sinha told The Wire that “These are illegal detentions, people are being held with no charges, no legal counsel, and no due process – only because they speak Bengali or are Muslims from Assam or Bengal.”
Cases of coercion and corruption
Multiple families report coerced release only after bribes or influence. In Khandsa’s ragpicker colony, Mijanur Molla claimed his father-in-law was released only after paying ₹6,000, despite valid documentation. He alleged beatings occurred in custody, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Another case involved Ashraful Islam, son of an Assam Industrial Security Force constable, detained on July 19 along with eight others. Despite presenting Aadhaar, PAN, school certificates, and even his father’s service ID, they were called “Bangladeshi” and held on suspicion — though local officials later intervened to seek his release, as per the report of Scroll.
‘We’re cooked for their kids, now we’re criminals’
Physical and psychological trauma continues: “This wasn’t just about legality — it was about dignity. We cook for their children, clean their houses, but they treat us like criminals,” reflected Aisha Khatun while speaking to Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile, Hindustan Times reported at least 10 trucks hauling migrants’ belongings out of Gurugram slum clusters — signalling early signs of a labour shortage in domestic and sanitation services.
Data Denied, Rights Denied
The entire operation also reveals a systemic absence of reliable migrant data. In Parliament, TMC MP Samirul Islam raised pressing questions to the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment on the status and deaths of migrant workers in the last five years. The Ministry failed to provide comprehensive data. “I sought data from the last five years, and we all know about the plight of migrant workers who were forced to walk long distances during the COVID-19-induced lockdown. There was no data available — or perhaps the BJP government is deliberately trying to hide its inefficiencies in protecting the rights of these migrants.” he wrote on X.
Islam also accused BJP-ruled states like Odisha, Maharashtra, and Delhi of unlawfully detaining and deporting Bengali migrants, with zero coordination with West Bengal. “I just want to warn the BJP: you cannot conceal your anti-Bengali attitude by hiding the data. Under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, we will continue to fight for the rights of these people.,” he said.
I asked a few questions to the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment regarding migrant workers. If you go through the questions and answers (the document is attached below), it becomes clear that we live in a country where the government does not maintain a timely or reliable… pic.twitter.com/c0gHh6PPLE
— Samirul Islam (@SamirulAITC) July 26, 2025
Conclusion
This is not the first such episode of mass detention in India. In recent weeks, a chilling pattern has emerged across multiple Indian states, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, where Bengali-speaking migrant workers, most of them Indian citizens, have been rounded up in mass raids, detained without proper inquiry, denied recognition of valid Indian documentation, and in some cases, forcibly deported to Bangladesh. (Detailed report may be read here.)
What began as a bureaucratic drive for “verification” has morphed into a surveillance campaign against linguistic and religious identity, disproportionately targeting poor Bengali-speaking Muslims. The absence of legal transparency, arbitrary detentions, and disregard for basic rights reveal deep fissures in the fabric of India’s constitutional promise.
Until procedural safeguards, accountability, and respect for dignity are restored, those who migrate for work risk living in a perpetual state of suspicion — their citizenship conditional, their humanity contested.
Related:
Foreigner in Life, Indian in Death: The cruel end of Abdul Matleb in assam’s detention camp
Pushed Out of Sight: The covert deportation and detention crisis at Assam’s Matia detention centre