Former Congress MP and ex-state party president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged his intervention to stop alleged attacks and discrimination against Bengali-speaking migrant workers, particularly in BJP-ruled states.
Raising serious concern over what he described as a growing pattern of violence against Bengali migrants, Mr Chowdhury said the only “fault” of the victims was that they spoke in Bangla. In a letter handed over to the Prime Minister, the Congress leader alleged that in several instances local administrations in other states wrongly assumed Bengali-speaking workers to be Bangladeshi nationals and treated them as infiltrators. Mr Chowdhury warned that such incidents could have serious repercussions in West Bengal, especially in border districts with a sizable Muslim population. “West Bengal shares a long border with Bangladesh and several regions have a Muslim-majority population. Attacks on Bengali-speaking people elsewhere in the country are creating fear and resentment here, which may disturb communal harmony and potentially lead to violence,” he wrote.
He appealed to the Prime Minister to sensitise all state governments against discrimination, violence and harassment of migrant workers coming from other parts of the country. “Migrant workers are an integral part of India’s workforce. They must not be targeted because of their language or identity,” he said. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Chowdhury said Bengali migrant workers were spread across the country and were facing “inhuman torture” in several places. “Just a few days ago, a young worker from Murshidabad was beaten to death in Odisha. I have mentioned this and other such incidents in my letter and requested the Prime Minister to take steps to stop such attacks, which are happening more frequently in BJP-ruled states,” he said.
The Congress leader was referring to the recent death of 19-year-old Jewel Rana, a migrant labourer from Chakbahadurpur village in Murshidabad’s Suti-I block, who was allegedly assaulted in Sambalpur, Odisha. Two other workers from West Bengal — Akir Sheikh and Palash Sheikh — were also injured in the incident and are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Odisha’s Modipada area.