The West Bengal government has alleged that nearly 100 migrant workers from the state have been detained in Odisha and “sent to detention centres” on suspicion of being Bangladeshis, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

In May, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Odisha government launched a statewide operation to identify and deport undocumented Bangladeshi migrants living in the state.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP and chairman of West Bengal’s Migrant Welfare Board Samirul Islam has said that “top administrative officials and police officers…have reached out to their counterparts in Odisha” regarding the alleged illegal detentions, the newspaper reported.

“But they are not releasing the poor migrant workers,” Islam was quoted as saying on Monday. “What has happened is unconstitutional”.

He added: “They are Indian citizens and residents of Bengal. They have gone to Odisha for work. But they have been detained and labelled Bangaldeshis. They have been sent to the detention centre. We will bring them home”.

The Rajya Sabha MP claimed that this trend is happening in “state after state under BJP rule”.

However, an unidentified Odisha government official told The Indian Express that “no one is being detained at any police station”.

The government is conducting verifications as part of a nationwide exercise in view of the recent developments in the neighbourhood, the official added.

“We are just verifying their identities and are also in touch with West Bengal government,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying.

The development comes nearly two weeks after four men from West Bengal, who had been picked up by the Maharashtra Police and “pushed” into Bangladesh, were brought back on June 15. The Murshidabad Police in West Bengal had presented proof of them being Indian citizens.

Over the past month, Indian authorities have been pursuing a policy to push individuals claimed to be undocumented migrants into Bangladesh. India has pushed back more than 2,000 persons into Bangladesh since the country launched “Operation Sindoor”, a military operation against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The legality of the “push back” policy has been debated in India and internationally. Experts have told Scroll that the policy violated India’s obligations under international law and customary international law.

Also read: India’s ‘pushback’ policy violates domestic and international law – but won’t face global censure