India has many success stories. This is not one of them. It is the story of illegal migrants from Bangladesh who appear to have achieved what many Indian citizens cannot – securing official identity papers with ease.
A video from Karnataka lays it bare. Bangladeshi illegals live openly in a crowded dwelling. They are not hiding, because they do not have to. They hold Aadhaar cards and possess voter ID cards. Some have more than one, each with a different phone number and address. One person even flashes a PAN card.
This is not a question of sympathy or hostility. It is a question of governance. When illegal entry is followed by official documentation, the problem no longer lies at the border alone, but within administrative processes meant to prevent precisely this outcome.
Administrative gaps
Aadhaar was projected as a robust, biometric-based system designed to eliminate duplication and fraud. Yet cases such as these point to gaps – not technological, but institutional.
In the video itself, one of the illegal denizens spells out how the system is gamed. An Aadhaar card, he says on camera, costs about Rs 1,500. Once that document is secured, obtaining a voter ID and even a PAN card is a cakewalk.
The issue, therefore, is not ingenuity on the part of infiltrators but the ease with which verification collapses. For a lawful citizen, routine documentation can be a prolonged ordeal. For an illegal entrant who knows which community leader to approach, the path appears far smoother.
A den that raises larger questions
The footage shows several individuals being interviewed in a hideous cluster. What is visible is disturbing. What remains unknown should worry the state far more. Such clusters do not exist without prolonged neglect by local authorities, enforcement agencies, and political leadership.
Bengaluru is not a border city, nor is Karnataka a frontier state. Yet illegal migration appears to have gone undetected for years. A comprehensive, house-to-house verification exercise may offer clarity, which perhaps explains why even the suggestion of such measures invites political resistance.
Opposition to voter roll revision
This resistance becomes clearer when viewed alongside opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (S.I.R.) of voter lists. Parties such as Rahul Gandhi’s Congress describe their objections as a defence of democratic inclusion. Critics, however, argue that the concern is electoral.
Removing illegal names from voter rolls inevitably affects vote calculations. What is presented as protection of democracy is seen by others as protection of numbers.
A familiar script beyond Karnataka
If Karnataka presents such challenges, the situation in West Bengal raises even larger questions. Under Mamata Banerjee, the state has consistently opposed extensive voter roll scrutiny, citing fears of discrimination. The state has also faced repeated allegations of infiltration over the years.
This is not unique to one state. In Hyderabad and parts of Telangana, media reports have pointed to the presence of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. The reports surfaced, caused momentary concern, and then faded from public debate. The script rarely changes – expose, deny, distract.
India risks creating a system where documentation confers legitimacy regardless of legality. Illegal entry influencing electoral rolls undermines democracy itself. Addressing it requires political will – and the courage to separate governance from electoral convenience.
Yes. the illegal immigrants clandestinely with or without collusion and corruption enter the country through porous borders and get emboldened with their success to crash through all other gates like aadhar, pan and even voter cards. The country needs to thoroughly firm up all channels to prevent illegal immigration.