Bengali-speaking workers in BJP-ruled states detained without any police records: Trinamool
Kolkata: Samirul Islam, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP and chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board, has raised concerns over the alleged persecution of Bengali-speaking migrant workers which he claims continues unabated in BJP-ruled states.
He further alleged that the police in these states are even refusing to recognise valid Aadhaar cards, EPICs and ration cards as acceptable forms of identification.
Taking to his X handle, Islam wrote that despite possessing valid documents, many poor workers from Bengal are being wrongly branded as Bangladeshis and are being harassed in every possible way, including illegal detention and forcible pushback across the border into Bangladesh. Islam raised six questions about how Indian citizens can be treated in this manner: “These migrant workers are being detained without any police records. Authorities are not even contacting the state government to verify their citizenship. What, then, is the motive of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah? Do they intend to punish Bengal in this illegal way — bypassing all Indian laws — simply because they failed to win the state electorally? If any infiltration has taken place, the responsibility lies with the BSF. So why are poor Bengali citizens being targeted in such an undemocratic manner? Islam further questioned: “There are many migrant workers from other states living in Bengal. Have you ever heard of them facing such treatment? With a desperate attempt, against the law, the police officers of those BJP-ruled states are detaining those people for over 24 hours, without producing them before the court.
Which law allows them to do so? Now the people are facing unprecedented brutality for speaking in Bengali—which was spoken by polymaths and patriots like Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and many others.
Do they now humiliate those people from respected people Bengali origin?” He further stated: “If the government led by @narendramodi and @AmitShah believes it can continue to torment Bengal in this manner, they are mistaken. Bengal will not remain silent. Under the leadership of @MamataOfficial, we will not allow the voices of the poor to be crushed simply because they speak Bengali. We will fight this battle — and we will fight
it on our terms.“
Recently, there have been instances of such detention in Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, to name a few.
Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chairperson, Mamata Banerjee recently expressed outrage over the incident in the state Assembly and said that she would bring these matters to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
