In Modi’s India, Bengali-speaking migrants – and even citizens – are learning that identity papers mean little when language itself can mark you as an outsider. By Kasturi Chakraborty.
Across Delhi’s sprawling metropolitan region, July 2025 was a month of terror for Bengali-speaking migrants as police identity verification drives swept through neighbourhoods.
Community halls and empty school buildings were converted into temporary detention centres as police, acting on a government circular since May, moved to accelerate deportations of ‘illegal’ Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants.
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