Tripura CM Reaffirms BJP’s Firm Stance on Illegal Immigration: Cut off year's December 2014, Not 1971
By Our Correspondent
Agartala, July 21, 2025
In a significant political statement, Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha made it clear that the BJP’s position on the issue of infiltration is fundamentally different from that of the TIPRA Motha, especially regarding the cut-off year for granting citizenship. While TIPRA Motha often refers to the 1971 Indira-Mujib Accord in its political stance on immigration, the BJP aligns itself strictly with the provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), which uses December 31, 2014 as the decisive date.
Addressing the media yesterday, the Chief Minister stated that as per central government directives, only those individuals who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Bangladesh due to religious persecution up to December 31, 2014, are eligible for Indian citizenship under the CAA if they apply. Anyone who entered the country after that date will not be granted such legitimacy, he emphasized.
He also strongly stated that illegal immigration into Tripura is not acceptable under any circumstances. To tackle this concern, the state government has constituted a Special Task Force (STF) to identify illegal infiltrators. Moreover, all District Magistrates and police officials have been instructed to intensify surveillance and take prompt action wherever necessary.
Dr. Saha mentioned that the government, in coordination with security and border forces, has been reviewing the situation regularly. He claimed that due to strict enforcement measures, the number of illegal entries into the state has significantly decreased in recent months.
The issue of illegal immigration has come under renewed scrutiny after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent remarks at a rally in Durgapur, West Bengal. Following that, BJP-led states, including Tripura, have begun reinforcing their strategies to curb infiltration.
Sources indicate that plans are already underway to identify infiltrators in several districts. In West Tripura district, a 15-member task force led by the Superintendent of Police has been deployed to detect Bangladeshis living illegally. However, whether detention centers like in Assam will be used remains unclear at this stage. The government is reportedly working on a separate mechanism to isolate those identified as illegal immigrants.
The issue has also taken on a wider political dimension. Recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of labeling Bengali migrant workers as Bangladeshis and sending them back across the border. This sparked an outcry and led to a renewed assertion of Bengali identity by the Trinamool Congress. Meanwhile, the BJP has started to intensify its political messaging on the infiltration issue across multiple states, particularly in the Northeast.
In this politically charged atmosphere, the Tripura Chief Minister’s statement sends a strong signal that the state government, in alignment with the Centre, is taking a hardline approach to the issue of illegal immigration, directly opposing TIPRA Motha’s narrative.
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