India deports 5,000 Bangladeshis

KOLKATA:

India has deported nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP swept to power in West Bengal last month, according to official statistics.

On taking power, the new West Bengal government ordered the establishment of detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingya refugees.

State Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, speaking in the capital Kolkata on Sunday, said nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens had been deported across the border.

"We have started the work of deporting Bangladeshi infiltrators who do not fall under the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Act," Adhikari said, saying the government had "established holding centres in all districts of the state" in May.