‘Decline in number of Bangladeshi migrants entering India’: Shashi Tharoor after Parliamentary panel meeting

Shashi Tharoor, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, said infiltration from Bangladesh has been reduced after the panel's meeting on Friday.

“One number that came up during the meeting is that fewer people from Bangladesh are coming to India now,” Tharoor told reporters after the meeting.

In the meeting, the committee recorded evidence of experts/non-official witnesses in connection with the examination of the subject 'Future of India-Bangladesh Relationship'. Tharoor, a Congress Member of Parliament, has been the chairperson of the panel since September 2024.

Giving out further details, Tharoor said, “former foreign secretary and ex-NSA Shivshankar Menon, Lieutenant General (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das and Professor Amita - the four experts gave us very good insights and excellent ideas.”

He said there were 16 members of the committee in attendance and it was a first class discussion."

“The final details about the numbers will be in the report,” Tharoor said.

India-Bangladesh Ties

India has strongly condemned the demolition of a Durga temple in Dhaka, criticising the role of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in allowing the destruction and projecting it as a case of illegal land use.

At a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, the extremists were clamouring for demolishing the Durga temple in Khilkhet, Dhaka.

The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, instead of providing security to the temple, projected the episode as a case of illegal land use and allowed the destruction of the temple, Jaiswal said. This, the MEA spokesperson said has resulted in damage to the deity before it was shifted.

Bangladesh Railway authorities on Thursday demolished a makeshift Durga Temple constructed on its land in Dhaka's Khilkhet, Bangladesh-based newspaper New Age reported. The temple was demolished three days after a mob demanded the removal of the temple. The Bangladesh Railway authorities said that they demolished Khilkhet Sarbojanin Shri Shri Durga Mandir as it was constructed illegally on railway land.

Earlier in May, India imposed restrictions on the entry of Bangladeshi ready-made garments (RMG) and other products through its northeastern land ports -- Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram -- and Fulbari and Changrabandha in West Bengal, following controversial remarks by Bangladesh's interim chief advisor Muhammad Yunus.

During a speech in China, Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Yunus had described India's northeastern states as a "landlocked region with no access to the ocean." This comment has sparked diplomatic friction, with Indian officials viewing it as undermining the region's connectivity and status.

The new restrictions have forced Bangladesh to reroute exports -- including Ready-Made garments (RMG), plastics, melamine, furniture, juices, carbonated drinks, bakery items, confectionery, and processed foods -- through Kolkata port in West Bengal or Nhava Sheva port in Maharashtra, sharply increasing logistics costs. 

(With ANI inputs)