Police probe debunks ‘illegal Rohingya’ claims in India
Months-long police verification exercise in Lucknow found no illegal Bangladeshi or Rohingya migrants, undercutting narrative long used by Hindu nationalist leaders
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A police investigation in Lucknow, the capital of northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, has found no evidence of illegal Bangladeshi or Rohingya migrants, contradicting repeated claims by ruling party leaders and Hindu right-wing groups who have alleged large-scale foreign Muslim settlement in the city.
Senior police officials said a months-long verification drive covering slums and densely populated neighborhoods found that sanitation and waste-management workers flagged as “foreigners” were in fact Indian citizens, most of them migrants from the northeastern state of Assam employed through municipal contractors.
The exercise was launched following sustained political pressure and public claims by leaders affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, who alleged that more than 200,000 “illegal Bangladeshi” and Rohingya migrants were living in Lucknow.
Those assertions, frequently echoed in speeches and social media posts, singled out Muslim-majority settlements and informal housing clusters, fueling fear and suspicion.
Joint Police Commissioner Bablu Kumar said police teams conducted door-to-door checks, verified identity documents, and coordinated with intelligence units across multiple police station jurisdictions.
“Our investigation did not find any Bangladeshi or Rohingya residents,” he said. “Most sanitation workers are connected to Barpeta and Kamrup districts of Assam, and they are Indian citizens.”
The verification followed demands from senior political figures, including Brij Lal, Sushma Kharkwal, and Aparna Yadav, who had publicly alleged a demographic influx of undocumented Muslim migrants.
Municipal inspections were carried out at sanitation facilities and residential clusters across the city, including in Gomti Nagar, Indira Nagar and Phoolbagh.
Despite the scale and intensity of the scrutiny, police said no evidence emerged to support the political claims. Officials confirmed that the workers and residents targeted during inspections possessed valid Indian identity documents and had migrated internally for employment — a common pattern in India’s urban informal economy.
Rights advocates say the findings expose how allegations of “illegal Bangladeshi” or Rohingya presence have become a recurring political trope used by Hindu nationalist actors to stigmatize Muslims, justify surveillance, and normalize collective suspicion. Similar claims have surfaced in multiple Indian cities in recent years, often without substantiating evidence.
Analysts note that such narratives play a central role in India’s current political climate, where migration, citizenship and religious identity are increasingly framed as security issues.
For Muslim communities, the consequences have included police raids, documentation drives, evictions and threats of disenfranchisement, even when claims later prove unfounded.
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