'Their only offence is speaking Bengali': Adhir Ranjan meets PM Modi, flags attacks on migrants

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday said he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised concerns over what he described as repeated attacks, discrimination and harassment faced by Bengali-speaking migrant workers.

Chowdhury, a former West Bengal Congress chief, urged the Prime Minister to intervene, warning that such incidents could fuel communal tension and potentially trigger violence in West Bengal, especially in border districts with Bangladesh.

In a letter to Modi, Chowdhury wrote, "With heavy heart I am constrained to flag your attention that migrant workers from west Bengal who are spreading across the length and breadth of our country are confronting severe discrimination in various states (most precisely BJP ruled states) at a regular interval."

He said these workers contribute significantly to the economy but are being targeted because of their language and identity. "Those migrant workers have been investing their sweat and skill in order to eke out livelihoods and as a consequence of which they should be recognized as cogs of our economic wheel of our country. However, they are being subjected to violence, hatred, abuse and even beaten to death," he wrote.

Chowdhury said Bengali-speaking workers are often mistaken for illegal immigrants. "Their only offence is that they speak in Bengali language which are often misunderstood by the concerned administration as persons belonging to neighbouring Bangladesh and treated as infiltrators," he said.

Calling the situation 'ironical', he alleged that authorities fail to distinguish between citizens of India and nationals of Bangladesh. "It is ironical to note that administrative officers including police do not differentiate between ‘Bangladeshis’ and 'Bangladesh's' people. And without committing any offence they are lodged into jail or detention centre much to the injustice being meted out," the letter said.

Referring to a recent killing, Chowdhury wrote, "I do also refer to a harrowing incident took place in Orissa's Sambalpur where a youth Mr. Juul Sk. of my district Murshidabad has been bludgeoned to death on the same excuse of Bangladeshi a infiltrator." The victim, identified as 30-year-old Jewel Rana from Jangipur in Murshidabad district, was killed in Sambalpur following an altercation over a bidi. He also cited other recent incidents, including the arrest of two migrant workers in Mumbai on suspicion of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Chowdhury pointed out that parts of West Bengal share a border with Bangladesh and have a sizeable Muslim population, and said reports of attacks elsewhere in the country are heightening anxiety and communal tension among communities in these areas.

Highlighting data from the West Bengal Migrants Welfare Board, Chowdhury said the board had received 1,143 complaints of harassment over the past 10 months, with a large number of cases reported from BJP-ruled states.

Making a direct appeal to the Prime Minister, Chowdhury wrote, "Hon’ble Prime Minister on behalf of those poor & wretched migrant labors from my state West Bengal, I would request you to sensitize all the state governments in the country as to stop this kind of discrimination, violence, persecution against those concerned migrant labors who have every right enshrined in our constitution to reside, to work, to visit any part of India and it is incumbent upon the Government to ensure safety and security of those migrant labors of our country."