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afternoon, an official told UNB.

Bangladesh described the remarks as “disparaging”.

The move came after Himanta, in an interview aired by ABP News on April 15, said pushing back even one Bangladeshi is “not an easy thing” because “Bangladesh police” were also stationed at the border.

“You cannot just go and hand them over, they do not accept; there is no extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh.”

When the interviewer asked how they were then sent back, the minister said, “Taking advantage of the night’s darkness, in places where the BDR [now BGB -- Border Guard Bangladesh] is not present, we push those people back.”

When the interviewer expressed shock, he admitted, “Yes, that is how we do it.”

The Border Guard Bangladesh was originally formed as the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and renamed BGB in 2010.

He also said, “You don’t know the truth. What does the BSF do? The BSF holds a person for 10, 20, even 40 days, and when they find a spot where the BDR is not guarding, they push them across.”

The interviewer then asked, “Then they must be able to come back too?” He replied, “Yes, some also come back from Bengal.”

He reiterated, “There is no extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh through which we can return a Bangladeshi. Bangladesh asks for proof….”

Referring to Assam’s National Register of Citizens process, he claimed 1.7 million “infiltrators” had been identified prima facie.

Himanta said that if authorities tried to proceed officially, the matter would go through India’s Ministry of External Affairs and then to Bangladesh, which, according to him, often refused to accept them as Bangladeshi citizens.

“Then what is the option open for us?”

When questioned over the low official deportation numbers, he said 1,400 people had been pushed back this year following a Supreme Court judgment delivered last year.

He claimed the ruling allowed a district magistrate to pass an eviction order if a person was believed not to be Indian.

Asked where they should be evicted, the chief minister said, “The law and the court order do not specify where they should be evicted to, so we have started using this to push them back at the border.”

Asked what “push back” meant, Himanta said, “It means you take them to a convenient place and practically push [dhakka] them.”

He added, “We should push them back, but also create an atmosphere so that they leave Assam on their own. When I talk about the ‘5 rupees vs 4 rupees’ example, the meaning is that society should not accept these Bangladeshis.”

On April 26, Himanta, in a post on X, said, “Rude people don’t understand soft language. We continuously remind ourselves of this prophetic line when we expel infiltrators from Assam who don’t leave themselves. For instance, these 20 illegal Bangladeshis who were PUSHED BACK last night. Assam will fight. Pushback WILL CONTINUE.”