Last week, Bangladeshi foreign minister A K Abdul Momen made an important statement that should inform and change the discourse on illegal Bangladeshi presence in India.He indicated that Bangladesh might have its own Indian ‘ghuspaithiyas’. Of course, the diplomat did not use the word intruder, or its Hindi rendition. He merely said, “Some Indian nationals are entering Bangladesh illegally for economic reasons.” His government has asked India for a list of Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in India, and it will allow them to return to Bangladesh, Momen added.Neither country has trustworthy statistics on illegal immigrants living within their borders. Many Indians believe that there are millions of illegal Bangladeshis living in India and their number is growing. This belief has been nurtured not by data, but by the divisive and prejudiced political climate of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). But no one has given any serious thought to whether Indians might also be sneaking into Bangladesh for better economic and developmental opportunities.In the absence of data, one way to test Momen’s statement is by simply weighing the motivations for migration to either country. The data on motivations for migration, believe it or not, do not lead to an outright rejection of Momen’s statement.There is, in fact, enough to suggest that the Bangladeshi foreign minister is right. India used to be the fastest-growing large economy in the world. Not any more. India has experienced a fall in GDP growth for the sixth quarter from 8% in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 to 4.5% in the second quarter of FY2020.Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi economy is forging ahead at 8% GDP growth — alas, what used to be India’s target. The Narendra Modi government has failed to create the jobs it promised six years ago. The employment scenario in Bangladesh is much better.Bangladesh has benefited from the US-China trade war. To escape higher tariffs on Chinese goods, American retailers are shifting orders to Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s share of US trade has increased. India, on the other hand, has remained a spectator.Bangladesh’s merchandise exports have grown at double digits in fiscal year 2019; India’s has been falling.Critics would argue that money is not everything. Quality of life is more important. There could not be a more objective measure of quality of life than life expectancy, and on that, Bangladesh trumps India by four years. Bangladesh residents enjoy a life expectancy of 72 years and Indian residents of 68 years. In 1971, at the time of the birth of Bangladesh, life expectancy was one year higher in India.Bangladesh has forged ahead and India has lagged behind. Indeed, on many other developmental indicators, Bangladesh has been performing better than India for several years now. In 2017, infant mortality in India was 32 per 1,000 live births; in Bangladesh, only 27. Under the age of 5 mortality was 39 per 1,000 live births in India, and only 23 in Bangladesh. Neonatal mortality was 24 per 1,000 live births in India, and only 18 in Bangladesh. These figures are according to the estimates by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.The important fact is that 50 years ago, for many of these indicators, the two countries were at par, or India was slightly ahead. But Bangladesh has performed better over time. Bangladesh remains ahead of India on women’s empowerment and gender equality — 71% of women, aged 15 or higher, in Bangladesh, are literate, while in India only 66% are. In India and Bangladesh, as elsewhere in South Asia, women’s labour force participation is low. The important difference is that in Bangladesh, it is rising; in India, it is falling.The ratio of girls-boys high-school enrolment is 0.94 in India and 1.14 in Bangladesh. The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks Bangladesh higher than India not only on the economic participation and opportunity index for women, but also on women’s political empowerment. In short, from developmental and gender equity lenses, Bangladesh is a more attractive country than India.One key measure on which India continues to score higher than Bangladesh is per-capita GDP. But Bangladesh is catching up fast.It all boils down to socioeconomic development. India will offer better prospects to its citizens and will attract migrants from other countries, if it remains focused on improving its economic and developmental outcomes. That appeared to be the ostensible focus of Modi’s first term in office even though the outcomes were not as promised.In its second term, the Modi administration has been playing a different ball game. The government is quick on slogans — $5 trillion economy by 2025, or doubling of farm income by 2022. But it has no clear vision, confidence or policy path to achieve them.Instead, the government is behaving as if it were in the opposition, creating an atmosphere of fear and divisiveness among youth and minorities.A poor economy and atmosphere of fear and divisiveness will ensure that immigrants — legal as well as illegal — will shun India. So will several Indians who may find better opportunities in Bangladesh or elsewhere.