Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday advocated for respecting migrant workers and maintaining inter-state harmony in the backdrop of alleged torture of workers from Bengal in states like Odisha. Banerjee also appealed to the workers to return to Bengal.
“Here in Bengal, people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha, and many other places reside. Around 1.5 crore migrants call Bengal home. We respect them all. If we hold such affection for the migrant labourers who come here, then why can’t others extend the same courtesy to our migrant workers elsewhere? It’s crucial to remember that misunderstandings between states hinder the country’s progress and growth.” Banerjee said while addressing a government distribution programme at Suti in Murshidabad.
Banerjee said that the state’s chief secretary wrote to the Union Home secretary urging the latter to take suitable measures, while MP Samirul Islam, who is also the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board, wrote to Odisha’s Home secretary.
Banerjee appealed to the workers to return to Bengal. She asked the state administration to provide them jobs under the Karmatirtha scheme.
On Monday, she had appealed to her counterparts in Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan to act against attacks on Bengali-speaking migrant workers in their respective states. “I have information that Bengali-speaking people are being beaten up in these states. Why would this happen? Is speaking Bengali a crime? Why are you assaulting our people?” she had questioned.
Trinamool Congress MP Yusuf Pathan has recently voiced concerns over migrant labourers from his constituency (Berhampore, Murshidabad) being “systematically assaulted” in Odisha. TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam has also written to Union Home minister Amit Shah, raising alarm over violence against Bengal workers in BJP-ruled states.