Hakimpur (WB), Nov 30 (PTI) A steady trickle of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh returning to their country through the international border in West Bengal's Hakimpur has morphed into a political flashpoint, sharpening BJP-TMC hostilities over infiltration, contested voter rolls and the Election Commission's high-stakes SIR exercise months before the 2026 assembly polls.

What began as a quiet, almost unnoticed return of immigrants has now turned into a symbolic political spectacle, recasting the border outpost into an ideological battlefield where visuals matter more than numbers.

The reverse movement, numerically small but visually potent, has swiftly been weaponised by both sides.

At the India-Bangladesh border in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district, locals and security personnel report a surge of undocumented Bangladeshis attempting to walk back home since early November, after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls began in West Bengal.

BSF officials said around 150-200 people are returning every day after verification of their details, with around 1,700 having crossed till November 20.

For the BJP, the images of people clutching their small bags and children as they head towards the zero line prove their claim of illegal immigration to West Bengal.

"This is exactly what we have been saying. The SIR has rattled infiltrators. The truth is finally coming out. They are leaving because they fear detection," BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said.

The party believes that the visuals bolster its narrative that "illegally settled Bangladeshis" have altered West Bengal's electoral demography for decades.

BJP spokesperson Keya Ghosh insisted the reverse movement of Bangladeshis "strengthens our narrative beyond doubt", adding, "Even 5,000 deletions prove our point".

She sought to explain the mismatch between the BJP's earlier claims of "50 lakh to one crore infiltrators" and the present movement not touching even 10,000. "Many who came earlier already have voter cards. TMC leaders helped them regularise documents over the years," she said.

But the state's ruling TMC has branded the episode an orchestrated exercise aimed at legitimising what it calls a "coercive and politically motivated" SIR. "There is nothing organic about Hakimpur... This is staged optics designed to build a narrative before 2026 and justify SIR," a senior TMC MP claimed.

TMC spokesperson Krishanu Mitra alleged political collusion. "Were these infiltrators waiting at the no-man's land for the BSF to open the gates and give journalists daily confessions?" he asked.

"If they are illegal immigrants, why is there not a single arrest? Why no crackdown on touts?" he asked.

Mitra argued that the exercise aims only to "prove the credibility of the SIR and justify BJP's infiltration narrative" ahead of the 2026 polls.

Local TMC leaders in Basirhat argue that the illegal immigrants leaving are mostly poor workers, brick kiln labourers, masons and domestic workers who panicked at the prospect of door-to-door verification, with many having lived for years on the basis of fake Aadhaar cards or forged voter IDs.

But in West Bengal's political theatre, nuance rarely survives narrative warfare.

Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said it proves the issue of infiltration in West Bengal, but dismissed the idea that it will electorally help the saffron camp.

"Infiltrators exist; infiltration happens, that is a reality... But four to five thousand people going back does not justify wild claims of 50 lakh or 1 crore deletions," he said.

Chakraborty said the episode merely "brought the issue into sharper focus in the context of the SIR", but added that the political rhetoric around mass deletions remains disconnected from ground facts.

"SIR in West Bengal will be a paperwork exercise rather than a meaningful deletion drive, the way the BJP imagines. Some dead or already-ineligible names may go, but that will not impact electoral politics in any real sense," he said.

Yet, for both parties, the scenes from the border offer political capital. Every returning immigrant becomes a symbol of "vindication" for the BJP, of "manufactured panic" for the TMC.

Each frame is circulated in WhatsApp groups, IT-cell campaigns and district-level meetings, shaping perceptions far beyond Hakimpur.

A BJP district leader from Bongaon said the visuals are a "potent tool", to mobilise the cadre and consolidate border-district voters.

A senior TMC leader countered, stating that the images are merely "a preview of the political script BJP will deploy -- fear, distrust and identity politics".

Political analyst Suman Bhattacharya warned that the current optics may not translate into electoral gains for the BJP, and could instead boomerang given rising anger over SIR-linked deaths across West Bengal.

"This is purely political optics. It will not help the BJP in any final run. If you want to identify 2,500 infiltrators, how do you justify 50 or more deaths of your own citizens, including BLOs who were doing their duty?" Bhattacharya asked.

The TMC has claimed that 41 people, including BLOs, have died, some allegedly by suicide, since the SIR process began, a charge the BJP has dismissed as "baseless and politically motivated".

In West Bengal's charged electoral climate, where narrative often outruns fact, the reverse migration at Hakimpur may shape the 2026 election discourse as deeply as the SIR itself. PTI PNT ACD