West Bengal worker proves Indian citizenship after being forced into Bangladesh, but loses livelihood
On 13 June, Sheikh was forced across the border into Bangladesh, allegedly at gunpoint
A construction worker from West Bengal, who was forcibly pushed into Bangladesh despite holding Indian identity documents, has managed to prove his citizenship, but at the cost of losing his job in Mumbai.
According to a report by Scroll.in, 38-year-old mason Mehebub Sheikh was detained by police in Mira Road, a town north of Mumbai, on 9 June, on suspicion of being an undocumented migrant from Bangladesh.
"We know that Mamata makes fake Aadhaar cards for you people," Sheikh recalled a police officer saying to him.
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Despite producing his Aadhaar and voter cards, both showing he was from Murshidabad in West Bengal, his claims were dismissed by the police and later the Border Security Force (BSF). "They threw them in the dustbin," he said, demonstrating how a BSF officer allegedly discarded his documents.
On 13 June, Sheikh was forced across the border into Bangladesh, allegedly at gunpoint. He said he was given only four days to prove his nationality, while his family rushed to gather land records and other papers from their ancestral village.
A Mira Road police official defended the action, claiming: "We did what we did according to the law. He was unable to provide any documents to prove his nationality."
Political backdrop
The incident came just weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Kolkata on 22 August, warned against undocumented migrants. "Those who have come here only to snatch the livelihoods of our people, those who are staying here with fake documents will have to go," Modi said. "For that to happen, the TMC [Trinamool Congress] government, too, has to go."
He also acknowledged for the first time that his government had been conducting a "very big campaign" against alleged illegal immigrants.
As Scroll.in reported, this campaign has led to the harassment and detention of many migrant workers from West Bengal, a majority of them Muslim, across several Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
Struggle to prove roots
Back in Murshidabad, Sheikh's brother Majibur searched desperately for evidence of their family's Indian citizenship. With help from their uncle Nur Hossain, he unearthed a land deed in their great-grandfather's name and a 1950s voter list featuring their grandfather.
The family also showed Scroll.in their ancestral home and graveyard in the village of Biprakali. "My father brought me here when I was a young man and asked me to bury him at the feet of his father after his death," said Nur Hossain. "I have requested my children to do the same with me."
Using these documents, local panchayat officials even drew up a family tree for Sheikh. Yet when they presented the papers to BSF officers, they were allegedly brushed aside. "The officers at the camp did not behave appropriately with me," said panchayat pradhan Sabbir Ahammed. "They treated me with suspicion and did not even see the papers properly."
Sheikh recalled being taken to a forest near the border. "I kept saying I am an Indian," he said. "They hit me on my neck with the butt of a rifle to silence me."
Scroll said the BSF spokesperson was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of reporting.
"We know that Mamata makes fake Aadhaar cards for you people," Sheikh recalled a police officer saying to him.
Return and aftermath
Sheikh was returned to India within 24 hours after the West Bengal government intervened. Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam confirmed, "There was a flag meeting between the BSF and the Border Guard Bangladesh after which Mehebub was returned."
Despite his return, Sheikh has been unable to resume work in Mumbai. Fearful of more harassment, his family has asked him to stay in West Bengal. He now works at a construction site near Kolkata, earning ₹700 a day compared with the ₹1,000 he made in Mumbai.
"I keep hearing about the harassment of Bengalis in various parts of the country. How can I go out like this?" he said, sipping tea at his new workplace.
The mason still keeps a photograph of the last skyscraper he worked on as his WhatsApp display picture. "My employers were good. No magach maari," he said, using a Mumbai slang phrase he had picked up over the years.
NRC fears resurface
The episode has revived fears in his village of a possible nationwide citizenship drive similar to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
In 2019, the Assam NRC process left 19 lakh residents off the final list. Villagers in Biprakali expressed concern about whether such an exercise might extend nationwide.
Sheikh's wife, Surona Bibi, said she was worried about both the harassment and her husband's desire to return to Mumbai. "I asked him to work in Kolkata, even if he earns less," she said. "He says that he has done nothing to deserve this punishment."
