Mamata to lead rally: TMC raises pitch against detention of Bengali-speaking migrants
On July 16, Banerjee is scheduled to lead a protest rally from College Square to Dorina Crossing in Kolkata
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Banerjee is scheduled to lead a protest rally from College Square to Dorina Crossing in Kolkata. (File Photo)The Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has decided to intensify its protests against the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states, including Odisha, Delhi, Assam, and Jharkhand.
On Wednesday, Banerjee is scheduled to lead a protest rally from College Square to Dorina Crossing in Kolkata, highlighting what the party calls “humiliation” faced by Bengali migrants who are allegedly being detained across these states.
In a parallel move, TMC MPs Sagarika Ghosh, Saket Gokhale, and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy visited Vasant Kunj in Delhi, where residents of a Bengali-dominated locality reportedly faced electricity and water cuts.
Posting on X on Sunday, Ghosh wrote: “… To the (PM Narendra Modi-led) government: Don’t torment Bangla-speaking migrant workers and call these defenceless citizens of India ‘illegal’ and ‘foreigners’ just because they speak Bangla… How DARE the BJP insult the language of Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra, Subhas Bose, and Swami Vivekananda!”
Meanwhile, a senior TMC leader said the party has received a positive response from the Calcutta High Court, which has asked the Union Home Ministry to clarify if any Bengali-speaking workers were deported to Bangladesh. “More Bengalis with valid Aadhaar and voter ID cards will soon approach the High Court,” the leader said.
Banerjee, in a post on X, expressed concern over reports of forced eviction in Delhi:
“I am deeply disturbed by the alarming news of harassment emerging from Jai Hind Colony in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, a settlement predominantly inhabited by Bengalis who build the city as part of its unorganised workforce,” she wrote.
She alleged that the residents’ water supply was cut on the orders of the BJP-led government, electricity meters confiscated, and private water tankers blocked by police and RAF personnel. “A forced eviction is currently underway despite the matter being sub-judice,” she said.
Banerjee further posted: “There are over 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal who live with dignity. But the same cannot be said for BJP-ruled states, where Bengalis are being treated as infiltrators in their own country. Speaking Bengali does not make one Bangladeshi.”
On Friday, the Calcutta High Court sought a detailed report from the Union Home Ministry on the alleged detention of migrant workers from West Bengal in Delhi. The court asked: “Have workers belonging to West Bengal been detained in Delhi and sent to Bangladesh?”
It also directed West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to coordinate with his Delhi counterpart and submit a comprehensive report. The order came while hearing two petitions regarding the alleged detention of six individuals from Pikor village in Birbhum district.
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