India has deported nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi nationals since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party secured a major election victory in West Bengal last month, according to official figures.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party swept the polls in the eastern border state, home to more than 100 million people, after campaigning on a pledge to “detect, delete and deport” undocumented migrants.
India shares a long and porous border with Bangladesh, where migration into India has historically been influenced by economic challenges and longstanding cross-border family ties.