In the closing weeks of 2025, a series of violent incidents across India exposed a disturbing pattern of mob violence directed at migrants who were labelled foreigners — Bangladeshis and Chinese — by their attackers. Suspicion based on language, region, appearance or presumed nationality is escalating into mob violence in different regions. In Palakkad district, Kerala, Ram Narayan Baghel, a 31-year-old migrant worker from Chhattisgarh was lynched by a mob on December 17. Two days later, in another incident from Odisha, a Bengali-speaking street vendor from West Bengal was assaulted. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has turned its incendiary campaign against “illegal infiltration” from Bangladesh as a central plank in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal.

Source: The Hindu January 02, 2026 04:45 UTC