TMC accuses BJP of ‘Bengal hate’ after assault on migrants in Odisha

Kolkata: After Rahul Islam, a 24-year-old youth, a winter-garment seller from Murshidabad, was branded a Bangladeshi and tortured at a village in Ganjam district of Odisha, Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday attacked the BJP government in Odisha saying the saffron party’s “hate” for Bengal has

crossed all limits.

In a post on X, Trinamool Congress wrote: “In BJP-ruled states people from Bengal are being hunted, beaten, and set on fire just for speaking the Bengali language.

In Odisha, a poor hawker Rahul Islam was punched, kicked, and threatened with being set on fire.”

Two of Rahul’s fellow hawkers, who had accompanied him to Odisha in October to sell winter wear, too were assaulted at different places in Ganjam and Gajapati after being labelled Bangladeshis. All three fled Odisha on Thursday.

“Two more hawkers from Bengal were assaulted in Ganjam and Gajapati, all labelled “Bangladeshis” only because they are Bengalis trying to earn a living. And when they begged the police for help, Odisha Police told them to leave the state. This is not “governance”. This is the BJP’s trademark Bangal-birodhi hate machinery, now unleashed on migrant workers,” Trinamool Congress wrote further.

Rahul alleged that a man had asked him what he was doing in the village. He abused him, called him a Bangladeshi and demanded to see his Aadhaar card. When she showed his Aadhaar card, the man called it a fake. Other people gathered at the spot and began abusing me.

Trinamool Congress said that they are with those who will face difficulties while working in other states. “We stand with our people. Bengal will neither forget nor forgive those who torment innocent workers in the name of politics,” Trinamool

Congress stated.