"Have you come to check our IDs?" asked 55-year-old Sirajul as he sorted plastic waste from a large jute bag brimming with domestic garbage and industrial scraps in Rangpuri near southwest Delhi's Vasant Kunj.
The slums in Rangpuri are home to migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, and Odisha, among other states. Many have been living there for nearly 20 years.
In December 2024, at least 12 people were arrested from Bengali Tola, a Bengali-dominated locality inside Rangpuri, for allegedly living illegally in India. They were identified by the Delhi Police as Bangladeshi nationals.
Since then, a sense of fear has gripped the residents, particularly Bengali Muslims, who worry that the police might "mistake" them for Bangladeshis and detain them.
The said arrests came on the back of an order by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on 10 December, instructing the Delhi Police to launch a two-month drive to identify and act against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants residing in the national capital.
On 20 January, a day after the Mumbai Police took an alleged Bangladeshi national in custody for the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra home, a letter from Saxena's office read, "It is underscored that such illegal immigrants are often employed by shopkeepers and other residents as worker/house help at far lower wages than the prescribed minimum wages, thereby depressing local labour markets."
"I am from Cooch Behar in West Bengal. I moved to Delhi a little over a year ago. I have my Aadhaar card and voter ID... I showed those to the police when they set up a camp for resident verification."Sirajul, Resident Of Cooch Behar, West Bengal
In December, two months before Delhi goes to polls on 5 February, the camp was set up at Bengali Tola by Delhi Police to 'verify' the locals living in the area.
Sirajul was a farm labourer in West Bengal and earned Rs 300 a day. He moved to Delhi in hopes to earn better and pay off a Rs 30,000 loan he had taken for his daughter’s wedding.
This move landed him in a 10X12 feet jhuggi in Bengali Tola, an impoverished locality with cratered roads filled with overflowing sewage. He pays Rs 2,000 monthly rent for his accommodation.
"I collect discarded plastic materials from dump yards across Vasant Kunj. My wife helps me segregate the materials which I then sell to a plastic pressing factory for Rs 7-15 per kg," Sirajul explained, adding that he manages to save Rs 4,000 every month to repay his debt.
Most people living in Sirajul's lane are from West Bengal and work as ragpickers or construction labourers. However, the 'verification' drives have instilled a sense of fear in the community.
"There are rumours that the police will verify our identities again, and this time, our Aadhaar and voter ID cards won't be enough to prove our Indian citizenship. They might ask for more documents, but I am illiterate... I never went to school. I don’t have any additional papers to show," Sirajul added.
Forty-eight-year-old Marjina, another resident from Cooch Behar, lives in a jhuggi just 50 meters away from Sirajul’s. She told The Quint, "Police personnel come at any time to check our IDs. It’s especially frightening when they show up in the middle of the night for verification, especially after they arrested a few people last month, claiming they were Bangladeshi citizens living here illegally."
Marjina, who works as a labourer at a construction site, added that while a few Bangladeshi citizens had been living in the locality, "all of them left" during a 19-day 'verification drive' conducted between 10 December and 28 December.
"In these 2–3 lanes, there are around 100 jhuggis and kaccha houses. I have lived here for over 15 years. To my knowledge, only 3-4 jhuggis housed Bangladeshis, and all of them have fled. But we still fear the police might mistake us for Bangladeshis which we are not."Marjina, Resident Of Cooch Behar, West Bengal
Sixty-five-year-old Siddiqui Biswas, who came from Murshidabad district in North Bengal to Delhi around 20 years ago and settled in Bengali Tola, said this process of 'verification' has happened several times over the two decades – each time creating panic in the community.
"In 2008, I first witnessed a police raid when they came at night for verification of the ID cards and arrested people who failed to produce them. Since then, they have done the exercise several times, including the one the last month."Siddiqui Biswas, Resident of Murshidabad, West Bengal
Selling vegetables outside his jhuggi, Biswas alleged that during the 'verification' process, residents from West Bengal are often detained and face police harassment until they can prove their Indian citizenship.
Police sources told The Quint that they plan to launch another campaign to identify and detain foreign nationals, particularly Bangladeshi citizens, living illegally in Delhi, in compliance with the LG's order.
In December, 46 Bangladeshi citizens were found living illegally, 12 of whom resided in areas around Rangpuri.
The sources further confirmed that the Delhi Police will conduct the campaign intensively in sensitive areas of New Delhi to enhance security in the national capital, particularly with Republic Day and the Delhi elections just days away.