Mainstream WeeklyThe recent change in the ruling political regime in West Bengal has intensified surveillance and control of the Bangladesh border in different districts. The Telegraph reported (June 4, 2026) in this context: “The Suvendu Adhikari government continued to move forward with its agenda of fortifying the India-Bangladesh border across Bengal during its third cabinet meeting…Bengal shares over 2,200 kilometres of the border with Bangladesh. The new state government has made it a priority to hand over parcels of land to the Border Security Force (BSF) for the installation of fences and allied infrastructure for national security.” The correspondent of the newspaper further reported that according to Agnimitra Paul, a minister of the newly formed government, the cabinet decided to transfer 31.905 acres of land to the BSF for the construction of border fences and other purposes in nine places located in various districts of Bengal. It was also decided to transfer 1.53 acres of land to the BSF to set up border outposts in three places of Malda, Nadia and Cooch Behar districts. (ibid.)
The newly elected BJP government in West Bengal has also taken the policy of constructing internal surveillance centres for identifying ‘illegal migrants’ from Bangladesh: “The shift is visible on the ground. In recent weeks, Bengal authorities established multiple holding centres for suspected undocumented migrants. One facility in Malda was opened under the state’s ‘detect-delete-deport’ initiative. Several additional centres have since been established across North 24-Parganas, Murshidabad and Nadia districts…” (The Telegraph, June 2, 2026)
The new surveillance apparatus of the government has magnified the precarity of footloose people in West Bengal: “At Hakimpur, near the India-Bangladesh border, hundreds of people gathered, hoping to cross into Bangladesh before detention or deportation proceedings could begin. AFP reported families sleeping in unfinished buildings, uncertain whether Bangladesh would accept them and unable to prove citizenship on either side of the border.” (ibid.)
In fact, Bangladesh has stepped up its border surveillance to prevent ‘push-in of people’ from the Indian side of the border. The echo of such counter-surveillance is being heard in Bangladesh: “The loudspeaker crackled across the paddy fields of Brahmanbaria as dusk settled over the border villages. Residents were being warned to stay alert. Do not shelter strangers. Report suspicious movement. Watch the riverbanks and char land…” (ibid.) An officer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) stated in this context: “We have started miking in border villages to raise awareness among residents and ask them to stay vigilant against any illegal crossings or push-in attempts.” (quoted in ibid.)
The predicaments of footloose people of West Bengal remind us of Hannah Arendt’s observation made in 1951: “The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships – except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.”