A usual hate-spewing speech delivered by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in January 2024 in Maharashtra’s Malegaon, a Muslim-majority town in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, where he raked up the increasing presence of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis under illegal documents during a speech to address a decade-old land dispute, became a nightmare for Muslims.
Within days, his allegations escalated, and the number of alleged illegal immigrants rose to four thousand; despite the lack of evidence, the BJP-led Maharashtra government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.
The SIT, headed by the special inspector general of the Nashik region, began summoning hundreds of individuals who had recently applied for or obtained citizenship documents, but investigations soon revealed that most of those summoned were not illegal immigrants but long-time residents of Malegaon who lacked proper documentation, The Wire reported.
The SIT’s scrutiny led to the arrest of 19 individuals, including a teenage college student, two women, local agents, lawyers, and a journalist; however, these arrests were not for illegal immigration but for alleged document tampering or fraud, such as incorrect spellings or birth dates.
Despite these findings, Somaiya continued to frame the SIT’s actions as a crackdown on “Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims,” and he used the situation to pressure authorities in other districts to file similar cases.
His rhetoric has fuelled fear and suspicion in Malegaon, which has a history of police violence and wrongful targeting of its Muslim population, and residents, many of whom have lived there for generations, now face harassment and intimidation as the SIT questions their nationality and demands proof of citizenship.
The situation has been exacerbated by the town’s fraught history, for Malegaon has often been stigmatised as a hub for terror activities, and Muslim youths have frequently been wrongfully implicated in cases such as the 2006 Malegaon bombings.
It took years for the truth to emerge, and it was ultimately revealed that Hindu extremists were the perpetrators, but the current SIT exercise has reignited fears among the town’s residents, who feel targeted solely because of their religious identity.
Critics argue that the SIT’s actions are politically motivated, for they stem from the BJP’s narrow defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and Malegaon, part of the Dhule constituency, played a pivotal role in Congress candidate Shobha Bachav’s victory over the BJP.
Many believe the SIT’s crackdown is retribution for the community’s voting pattern, yet despite appeals from locals, Bachav has remained silent on the issue and has failed to raise it in Parliament or provide support to her constituents.