The Rohingya people are Muslim Indo-Aryan peoples from the Rakhine State, Myanmar. Prior to the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis and the military crackdown in 2016 and 2017, the Rohingya population in Myanmar was around 1.1 to 1.3 million. They reside mainly in the northern Rakhine townships, where they form 80–98% of the population. Many Rohingyas have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, to areas along the border with Thailand, and to the Pakistani city of Karachi. More than 100,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar live in camps for internally displaced persons, not allowed by authorities to leave.Probes by the UN have found evidence of increasing incitement of hatred and religious intolerance by "ultra-nationalist Buddhists" against Rohingyas while the Burmese security forces have been conducting "summary executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and ill-treatment and forced labour" against the community. International media and human rights organizations have often described Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.According to the United Nations, the human rights violations against Rohingyas could be termed as "crimes against humanity".Rohingyas have received international attention in the wake of the 2012 Rakhine State riots, the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis, and the 2016–17 military crackdown.

Rijiju’s response was to outline a plan to deport around 40,000 Rohingya, or “illegally staying foreign nationals”, from India. Carefully avoiding the word “refugee”, the minister said that the central government had directed the state governments to set up district task forces to “identify and deport” the foreign nationals. Rijiju further stated in a subsequent interview that since India is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees, refugee status granted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Rohingya was irrelevant to their deportation.