The Immigration & Foreigners Bill, 2025 was passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday evening, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacking the West Bengal government for not giving land in the State to fence 450 km long open border with Bangladesh, allowing immigrants to illegally cross over to India.
Shah, while replying to the discussion in the Lower House before the Bill was passed, said that he himself wrote a Demi Official (DO) letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requesting land along the 450 km long open border for fencing.
But, the State government did not part with the land, he said while responding to TMC MPs raking up illegal Bangladesh immigrants and Rohingias reaching all the way to Delhi.
Of the 2,216 km-long border with Bangladesh, fencing of 1,653 km and connecting roads have been completed, he informed the parliamentarians.
Remaining 563 km of border is open. Out of that, it’s difficult to fence 112 km owing to difficult terrain, and river and nallah flowing through that parcel of land, he said.
‘Lack of cooperation’
For the remaining 450 km, fencing remains incomplete due to lack of cooperation from the TMC government which is “sympathetic to illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh, Shah charged as a few TMC MPs like Saugata Roy, started shouting against the remark.
He also stated that TMC party cadres create ruckus whenever border infrastructure is created in the State.
He asked the TMC regime to stop issuing Aadhar cards and ration cards to Bangladeshis and Rohingias to scuttle their onward journey to Delhi and elsewhere in the country.
Shah said four laws have been subsumed into one to avoid overlapping and flaws in the previous legislations for strengthening legal framework and country’s security.
The Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025 repeals the following 4 Acts - Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, Foreigners Act, 1946, and Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000.
The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 11, and tries to regulate immigration, entry, and stay of foreigners in India. Now the Bill will be introduced in Rajya Sabha for discussion and passage before it becomes law.
The new legislation has also been simplified as four previous laws had 45 clauses which has been reduced to 36 clauses, which includes retaining 26 old ones and adding 16 fresh, Shah said.
Some offences have been made compoundable to make them less harsher.