Bengaluru, Aug 8 (PTI) Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday said the state government was taking stringent and sustained action to identify illegal immigrants, including those from Bangladesh, and warned that there would be no compromise on tackling the issue.

He also cautioned against citizen vigilantism and 'social media activism', saying the government will act tough against them as well.

“We are conducting a strict and serious search and verification,” Kharge told reporters here.

He added that the government had apprehended nearly 1,000 people over the past three months.

The reaction came as the Bengaluru City Police launched a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants in various slums and reportedly caught over 40 Bangladeshi nationals living here illegally.

Kharge said those apprehended included Africans, Bangladeshis and others, with many allegedly coming from North India.

“So, there is absolutely no compromise on this,” he said.

He said the government was in touch with the BSF and FRO officials and would maintain constant vigil.

“We will 100 per cent take care of this issue. We have to remain constantly vigilant. It is not something we can do for one or two weeks and then stop. It has to be done continuously. If necessary, we are also forming a special team for this,” he said.

Kharge said the Centre should assist Karnataka as the state did not share an international border with Bangladesh or any other country.

“If people are entering the country and eventually reaching here, where are they coming from? Are they coming from Tripura, Assam, other parts of the Northeast or West Bengal?” he asked.

He said guarding the international borders was the Centre's responsibility and questioned how illegal immigrants were reaching Karnataka if the borders were being effectively secured.

Kharge also came down heavily on what he described as "vigilantism and social media activism" targeting suspected illegal immigrants, saying such actions could alert those involved and hamper police investigations.

“We cannot allow such vigilantism. If you have information, come and give it to our personnel at the police station. If you try to become a social media hero, you are actually strengthening this international network that exists,” he said.

Asked about moral policing, Kharge said, “No moral policing and no vigilantism will be tolerated.” He said individuals making videos of suspected migrants and posting them on social media were doing so for “likes and shares” without considering the security implications.

“You may do all this for likes and shares, but you have to understand how seriously it can affect security and act responsibly. So, from now on, this kind of social media activism has to stop. If you have information, bring it to the police,” he said.

Kharge said the government's focus was not merely on apprehending individuals but on tracing the network facilitating their entry, documentation and employment.

“Now, the person who gets caught is not important to us. What is important is their origin. Who brought them here? They say they are contractors. Who is their contractor? Who helped them get Aadhaar cards? Who is providing them employment here? Who is getting them small jobs in different private companies? We need to find all that out,” he said.

He said the police were already apprehending more people than was publicly known, but could not disclose details because of the sensitive nature of their operations.

“If you think the police are not doing their job properly, you should know that we are doing it. We are catching more people than you are aware of. Unfortunately, our work does not get publicity. We cannot share details of the operations on social media,” Kharge said.

He also said that the police were conducting operations secretly.

"Can we reveal who those officers conducting the secret operations are? Can we disclose all those details? We have to maintain confidentiality,” he added.

Kharge urged citizens who had information about illegal immigrants to share it with the police instead of taking matters into their own hands.

He said if the vigilantes were genuinely a good citizen and concerned about the interests of the state, then they should share information with the police.

"We will act. Join hands with us,” he said.

He reiterated that the information should be provided through the proper channel and said the authorities were seeking to establish the entire chain behind illegal immigration.

“We are not interested in catching just one individual. What we need to know is their entire background—who they are, whether they were brought from Bengal, directly from Bangladesh or from Assam, where they are kept after coming here, who gets them Aadhaar cards, who gives them jobs based on those Aadhaar cards, and on what basis their verification is being carried out,” he said.

The minister underlined that the government was extremely serious about it and asked people to see the statistics.

"We have already caught more than 1,000 people in some places. We hand them over to the FRO. That's it,” Kharge said. PTI GMS ROH