The chilling slogan ‘Raliv, Galiv, Chaliv’ still haunts the collective memory of Kashmiri Pandits. Roughly translated from Kashmiri, it meant: ‘Convert, Leave, or Die.’ In the winter of 1990, these words echoed from mosque loudspeakers across the Kashmir Valley, accompanied by threats and intimidation that forced an entire community into exile.
Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus abandoned homes, temples, businesses, schools and memories overnight. Families fled with little more than clothes and documents. What followed was one of independent India’s darkest chapters – the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their ancestral homeland.
Three decades later, another alliterative slogan is finding political currency in another border state – ‘Detect, Delete, Deport.’
This time the slogan is not about religion but about illegal immigration. And the political battleground is West Bengal.
From ‘Didi’ to DDD
For years, Bengal politics revolved around one slogan – ‘Didi, Didi, Didi.’ Mamata Banerjee cultivated an image of herself as the protector of Bengal’s poor and minorities while portraying the BJP as an outsider force trying to communalise the state.
But the political narrative appears to be shifting. The BJP and its supporters have increasingly focused on illegal immigration from Bangladesh, alleging that porous borders and political patronage have allowed lakhs of undocumented immigrants to settle in Bengal over the years.
According to the BJP, these immigrants were not merely allowed to stay but were systematically integrated into the state’s electoral ecosystem. The allegations are explosive.
Central agencies and investigating authorities have reportedly uncovered Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and voter ID documents during raids connected to Mamata’s party networks. BJP leaders claim that fake documentation and voter registration became an organised industry in border districts.
The Trinamool Congress has denied these allegations and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of weaponising the immigration issue for electoral gains. Yet the issue refuses to die down.
The border reality
West Bengal shares a long and highly porous border with Bangladesh. Smuggling, cattle trade, illegal migration and human trafficking have existed for decades in several districts.
Security experts have repeatedly warned that illegal immigration is not merely an economic issue but also a demographic and national security concern.
Border districts such as North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda and Nadia have frequently been at the centre of political controversy over alleged infiltration.
Critics of the Mamata government argue that identity documents became easier to obtain because of political considerations. They allege that once an immigrant obtained Aadhaar, ration cards or voter ID cards, detection became nearly impossible.
The TMC counters that the BJP exaggerates numbers and selectively targets Bengali-speaking Muslims for political polarisation. But politically, perception often becomes more powerful than official statistics.
SIR and the political tremors
The recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise has added fresh fuel to the debate. Supporters of the exercise claim it has exposed large-scale irregularities in voter rolls and documentation.
They argue that stricter scrutiny has triggered panic among illegal immigrants and political middlemen who allegedly facilitated their entry and settlement.
BJP supporters now openly claim that many undocumented immigrants are quietly returning through the same routes by which they entered Bharat.
Whether these claims are exaggerated, partially true or fully accurate will ultimately depend on verified data and official findings. But politically, the slogan ‘Detect, Delete, Deport’ has already become a rallying cry.
The BJP’s ‘double-engine’ promise
The BJP’s victory in West Bengal has fundamentally altered the state’s political landscape. With Suvendu Adhikari becoming chief minister, Bengal has now formally entered the BJP’s ‘double-engine government’ framework – a term used to describe the same party ruling both the Centre and the state.
The BJP argues that Bengal’s economy, industry and law-and-order situation deteriorated under prolonged Trinamool rule and that alignment with the Centre will now accelerate infrastructure, investment and governance reforms.
The BJP also argues that illegal immigration distorts welfare schemes, burdens public resources and changes electoral demographics.
For its supporters, DDD is therefore not merely a slogan but a political doctrine – detect illegal entrants, delete fraudulent identities, and deport those staying unlawfully.
For critics, however, the slogan risks becoming a tool for harassment, profiling and communal targeting.
Kashmir and Bengal – an uncomfortable comparison
Comparisons between the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and illegal immigration politics in Bengal remain controversial.
One involved a targeted campaign of terror against an indigenous minority community. The other concerns a debate over border control, citizenship and electoral integrity.
Yet for many nationalist commentators, the comparison is symbolic rather than literal.
They argue that demographic change, political appeasement and silence from the establishment eventually create conditions where native populations feel politically displaced in their own land. That sentiment is what fuels slogans like DDD.
The battle ahead
The Bengal election has already been fought and decided on issues far bigger than roads, subsidies or welfare schemes. Identity, borders, citizenship and demographic anxiety are rapidly becoming central political themes.
The BJP believes that illegal immigration could become Bengal’s equivalent of what corruption became in Delhi politics or what Hindutva became in Uttar Pradesh.
The Trinamool Congress, meanwhile, continues to portray the BJP’s campaign as divisive fear-mongering aimed at polarising voters.
The BJP’s sweeping victory indicates that a large section of Bengal’s electorate accepted the DDD narrative as one of national security, demographic protection and administrative correction rather than merely another political slogan in Bharat’s increasingly polarised democracy.
One thing, however, is undeniable. The chant in Bengal is no longer just ‘Didi.’ It is rapidly becoming ‘Detect, Delete, Deport.’
