Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday referred to news reports that hundreds of people were leaving West Bengal and heading to Bangladesh after the new BJP government came to power in the state and said that “since the infiltrators are returning on their own”, the government will not take any legal action against them.

“Suvendu Adhikari and the BJP government in Bengal have established detention centres, but we all want the infiltrators who have entered illegally to return on their own. If they do so, the Bengal government will not take any legal action against them,” Shah said in Gujarat.

“I hope that before the identification campaign starts, several people will leave on their own. Our government has resolved to identify every single infiltrator and remove them from the country,” Shah added.

He made the remarks during a public event in his Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, where he inaugurated and laid the foundation for projects worth Rs 340 crore.

The Suvendu Adhikari government in West Bengal has opened detention camps as part of its “detect, delete and deport” policy.

Shah also referred to the demographic change committee announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week, saying it will seek reasons for unnatural demographic changes and suggest laws if required. “If required to frame any law for the same, that will be deliberated too. The demographic change committee will submit its report within a year, and this artificial demographic change will be stopped,” he said.

The BJP had promised to implement these measures in its election manifesto ahead of the recently concluded Assembly elections, accusing the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of failing to enforce the directive.

Further, referring to the Assembly election manifesto promise of securing the international border, Shah said, “We said during the election that if you hand over the rule to us, we will make the border secure by fencing along the Bangladesh border and commence the work within a few days. I congratulate Suvendu Adhikari that within seven days, 600 hectares of land have been handed over to the BSF [Border Security Force]. Even along the Chicken Neck (the corridor in Bengal that connects the northeastern states with the rest of India), 121 hectares of land have been handed over to the Government of India.”

In a post on social media, Adhikari stated that the West Bengal government has initiated measures to strengthen border security by facilitating the construction of BSF outposts and barbed-wire fencing, further enhancing security in the border areas. West Bengal shares a 2,217-km border with Bangladesh, the longest among Indian states.

Shah also spoke about the 12-year “development journey” initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Gujarat. “The Gujarat development model has spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Ganganagar to Somnath, the result of which is that the BJP government rules 80 per cent (of India). Recently too, in the Bengal election, Didi (Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee) was completely wiped out,” he added.