Saddam Hossain fears his mother might lose the Indian citizenship she obtained a decade ago and feels nervous every time a BJP leader says “infiltrators” would be pushed back into Bangladesh.

Saddam, a man in his early 30s, is a resident of Madhya Mashaldanga, a Bangladeshi enclave-turned-Indian village in the Dinhata subdivision of Cooch Behar.

The special intensive revision of electoral rolls has deleted the names of over 1,000 people across the 51 former Bangladeshi enclaves in the district, leaving them worried about the potential loss of citizenship and its possible consequences.

About 15,856 people from these former conclaves were granted Indian citizenship after New Delhi and Dhaka exchanged their conclaves at midnight on July 31, 2015, through a land boundary agreement, local sources said.

Now, many here fear that if the appellate tribunals do not uphold their appeals and they lose their citizenship, they might have to return to the pre-2015 decades when they enjoyed no rights and no government welfare, and lived in poverty and deprivation.

“We didn’t have any documents as we were Bangladeshis then,” Zainal Abedin, another young man from Madhya Mashaldanga, said.

“We had to sustain our families entirely on our own without any government assistance, unlike the Indians who lived in our neighbouring villages.”

He added: “The deletion of names has now led to concern that after a decade, these people might be pushed into the same situation again.”

Saddam said those excluded from the rolls were more worried about the threats from BJP leaders like Amit Shah and Himanta Biswa Sarma that “infiltrators” would be deported to Bangladesh.

They know they can be the softest targets, having been Bangladeshi nationals till just over a decade ago.

“They feel that they might be pushed into Bangladesh even though the Indian government had granted them citizenship,” Saddam said.

“The Election Commission is well aware that they became citizens in 2015, like the rest of us. As the names of only some people and not all have been deleted in these erstwhile enclaves, these people are more concerned that they might face such consequences.”

He added: “The SIR has deleted the names of at least 1,000 people from these former enclaves, including that of my mother. She is worried about losing her Indian citizenship.”

Over time, the central and state governments had issued these residents of former enclaves, who had chosen to stay back in India, with essential documents such as Aadhaar, voter IDs, ration cards and PAN cards. They have voted in multiple elections
since 2016.

Zainal said 390 of the 397 voters in his area had been marked “under adjudication”, and 88 names had eventually been deleted.

Former enclaves such as Batrigach and Kachua have seen 158 and 48 names deleted, respectively. The number of deletions is 65 in Purba Mashaldanga, 81 in Dakshin Mashaldanga and 127 in Poaturkuthi.

Al-Amin Sheikh, 25, from Madhya Mashaldanga has had his name removed although his parents are on the list.

“The Indian government granted us citizenship under the enclave exchange agreement. Both the government and the Election Commission know about our situation,” said Amina Bibi, a deleted voter.

“Then why are our names being removed and we are being subjected to such harassment?”

Saheb Ali, another Madhya Mashaldanga resident, said the SIR and the deletions had caused panic.

“Some people now go to sleep with their documents beside them and wake up clutching them, unsure of what will be required next or which office they must visit,” he said.