Rajya Sabha passes Immigration and Foreigners Bill amid Opposition walkout

The Rajya Sabha passed the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, by a voice vote on Wednesday as the Opposition staged a walkout in protest against minister of state for home Nityanand Rai's charge that the states where Congress is in power and Trinamool-ruled West Bengal are soft towards illegal immigrants entering the country.

Replying to a debate on the bill, Rai alleged that there appears to be an ongoing conspiracy to accommodate illegal immigrants in states where Congress is in power. He further said Trinamool has also allowed intruders from Bangladesh to enter West Bengal where it is in power. "We have had to increase the strength of BSF posted in West Bengal. The state government is not giving the Centre land for wire fencing at the border to stop illegal immigrants. In neighboring Assam where BJP is in power, the government has stopped them," Rai said. The minister charged the Trinamool government of helping these intruders get voter ID cards, Aadhaar and other documents.

BSF has often been disturbed by the state government while securing the borders, he added. As per the rules formulated in October 2021, BSF has jurisdiction over a 50 km stretch from the border in West Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan.


Refuting charges, Congress' Digvijaya Singh demanded that Rai authenticate his allegations. Later, Congress, Trinamool and other Opposition parties walked out of the House in protest.

The bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha, was cleared with a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha.

Rai said the government will welcome those educated, skilled Indians who are settled abroad as well as those facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

During the debate, the Opposition members demanded that the bill be sent to a Joint Committee of Parliament. "The bill is clearly designed for ulterior motives by a control freak sarkar bent upon sending out a message of fear through the architecture of omniscient, Orwellian surveillance of foreigners," Abhishek Manu Singhvi (Congress) said.