All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has strongly reacted to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ issue. Recently, in an election rally in Bihar, Modi accused the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of ‘sponsoring infiltrators’. In response, Owaisi on Thursday sarcastically said, “There are no Bangladeshis in Bihar and the border areas. Modiji, one of your sisters has come from Bangladesh and is sitting in Delhi. Send her to Bangladesh, we will reach her.”

With this comment, Owaisi directly alluded to former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. On August 5, 2024, she fled India in the face of widespread public outrage in Dhaka and has been staying in Delhi since then. Analysts believe that Owaisi’s statement was used to highlight the hypocrisy of Modi’s statement.

The BJP is using the migration issue as a major tool in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. The issue of ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ is being used to create political heat, especially in Muslim-dominated border areas. The central government has already started raids in various states to identify illegal immigrants.

Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly raised the issue of ‘infiltrators’ as a reason for the population crisis, be it in his Independence Day speech or election rallies. However, Owaisi’s counter-statement has added a new dimension to this political campaign.