Kolkata: Following the alleged attack on migrant workers in Odisha, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed to her counterparts of Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan to act against attacks on Bengali-speaking people in their respective states.
“I have information that Bengali-speaking people are being beaten in these states. Why would this happen? Is speaking Bengali a crime? Why are you assaulting our people? There are 1.5 crore non-Bengalis residing in Bengal but we won’t allow this to happen here. That is the difference between you and us. Our Chief Secretary will write a letter today (Monday) on this issue to his counterpart in Odisha,” she said.
“Just like migrant workers from Odisha work peacefully in Bengal, people from Bengal also work in Odisha. This is deeply condemnable,” she said.
Banerjee said that the state’s Director General of Police has already spoken with his Odisha counterpart on this issue.
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. Islam sent a strongly-worded letter to Shah on Saturday, demanding immediate intervention.
The TMC parliamentarian has proposed a three-point intervention programme, including directing all state governments to ensure the safety of Bengali-speaking
citizens, mandating thorough verification before taking action against individuals claiming origin from West Bengal and enforcing coordination with the West Bengal government in cases where Bengali-speaking persons are found in distress.
The Trinamool MP also highlighted how “targeted hostility” against Bengali-speaking workers has been escalating since 2014 and has intensified in recent months.
“It is a grave contradiction that even after Bengali was accorded classical language status by the Union Government, its speakers are now being criminalised for using it,” Islam had stated, emphasising that the pattern of violence has been predominantly reported from BJP-governed states.