The reported deportation of nearly 5,000 undocumented Bangladeshi nationals from India's West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh, has become the first major test of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) promise to "detect, delete and deport" after its landslide election victory in the state last month.
Just weeks after the vote, authorities ordered districts to set up holding centers for undocumented Bangladeshis and ethnic minority Rohingyas awaiting verification and deportation.
According to West Bengal's chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, around 4,800 people have already been sent across the border, while another 836 remain in custody.
Illegal immigration from neighboring Bangladesh has long been one of eastern India's most potent mobilizing political issues for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP.
BJP leaders argue that decades of unchecked migration have altered demographics, distorted electoral rolls, strained welfare resources and created security concerns.
