In September, Salman Fazlur Rahman, advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said in an interview with India Today that “illegal” immigrants from Bangladesh are economic refugees who will return to their country of origin once their economic situation improves. The statement went by surprisingly unnoticed.
But it was the first time that the Bangladeshi state recognised the issue of “unauthorised” immigration from Bangladesh to India, and more importantly, demonstrated a sense of concern by designating the migrants as “economic refugees”. Bangladesh has historically kept silent on the issue while India has increasingly framed it as a national security problem.
The migrants in question are poor working-class people, mostly Muslim, looking for livelihoods that will help them survive. Their activities contribute immensely to the local economies of the cities in India where they work. The political response to migrants from Bangladesh has negated this…