Ahead of 2025 Assembly elections, Bihar BJP raises Bangladeshi infiltration

Bihar BJP Minister raises Bangladeshi infiltration issue in Seemanchal region ahead of 2025 Assembly elections.

On the lines of Jharkhand, Bihar Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Nabin on Sunday (December 8, 2024) raised the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration.

The Minister asserted that the Bihar government will take strict action against the illegal immigrants taking shelter in Seemanchal regions where Muslims population is over 47%.

Bangladeshi infiltration issue raised by the BJP in Jharkhand backfired and the party saw a humiliating defeat, winning less seats than the last Assembly elections in 2019.

Keeping in mind the Assembly election in Bihar due next year, BJP has once again started its move to build momentum with the issue, which did not work in the neighbouring Jharkhand.

“Action must be taken against Bangladeshi staying in Bihar. In Seemanchal region there is high possibility of infiltration. The resources of Bihar and India must be utilised by the people staying here and not by Bangladeshi. These people must be identified and action should be taken,” Mr. Nabin said while speaking to the media in Patna.

Seemanchal, located in north Bihar, comprises four districts: Purnea, Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria. The four districts represent 24 Assembly constituencies. Seemanchal is therefore important for the 2025 Assembly polls both for the INDIA bloc and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar.

When the caste-survey was carried out in Bihar — the BJP was then not the alliance partner of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) — the saffron party had questioned the format in which the exercise was carried out and termed it “flawed” alleging that it could potentially “tamper with the citizenship register.”