Mamata Banerjee on Saturday condemned the attacks on Bengali migrant workers in BJP-ruled states and tried to placate Bengal’s Muslim community, a day after facing accusations of inaction over the lynching of a Murshidabad youth in Odisha.
The chief minister said her government had lodged a zero FIR at Suti police station in Murshidabad and sent a police team to Odisha to conduct a probe. A zero FIR can be registered at any police station, regardless of where the alleged crime occurred.
Villagers in Chak Bahadurpur, Suti, had on Friday accused the state government of doing nothing after a village youth — Juyel Sheikh aka Juyel Rana — was lynched in Sambalpur, Odisha, on Wednesday night.
“Speaking the Bengali language cannot be a crime,” Mamata wrote on her X handle on Saturday afternoon.
“In the matter of the deceased young Juyel Rana, the West Bengal Police has already filed a zero FIR at Suti Police Station, and six people have already been arrested. A police team from my state has gone to Odisha for investigation.”
About 20 minutes before Mamata’s statement, the Bengal police had put out a post outlining the steps taken in the matter.
Suspected Hindutva activists had killed Juyel, 21, and injured two of his companions — also migrant workers from Murshidabad — after branding them “Bangladeshi infiltrators”.
“We strongly condemn the brutal oppression and persecution that has descended upon Bengali-speaking people in every BJP-ruled state,” Mamata wrote.
“We stand by those oppressed, terrified and tortured migrant Bengali-speaking families, and we will provide all kinds of support to them. No value can compensate for human lives, but in cases where deaths have occurred, we remain committed to financial compensation.”
The chief minister’s statement came three days after the atrocity and a day after Juyel, employed as a construction worker in Odisha, was buried in his village.
Angry villagers, particularly Muslims who attended Juyel’s funeral, had asked why Mamata had not spoken to her Odisha counterpart Mohan Charan Majhi. Many asked why no protest had been organised against the brutality.
A local CPM panchayat member, Mezarul Sheikh, joined in the attacks on the state government.
Political pressure further mounted on Mamata with U.P. Joseph, general secretary of the CPM-backed Construction Workers’ Federation of India, condemning the lynching and expressing solidarity with Juyel’s family.
“This (Juyel’s murder) is not an isolated incident. It is the direct result of a poisonous narrative being fuelled in BJP-ruled states by constantly labelling Bengali-speaking migrants as ‘illegal immigrants’ for political gain...,” Joseph said in a statement from Delhi.
Although the Bengal government had already taken up the attacks with various BJP-ruled states, including Odisha, the rise in such instances has become a political headache for Trinamool ahead of next year’s Assembly elections, amid reports of growing discontent within the Muslim community.
Sunali Khatun, a migrant worker from Birbhum deported to Bangladesh at the behest of Delhi police, was recently brought back to India after a long legal battle initiated by the Bengal government.
A source said Trinamool and the state government had been flooded with information about atrocities on Bengali-speaking migrant workers in recent months.
A Trinamool insider said the party was sensing dissatisfaction among Muslims, particularly in Muslim-majority Murshidabad and in Malda, where the community is close to half the population.
Villagers at the funeral of Juyel Sheikh at Chak Bahadurpur village in Murshidabad's Suti on Friday. Picture by Samim Aktar
“The party saw how a large number of Muslims visited the foundation stone ceremony for the Babri Masjid (in Beldanga, Murshidabad), organised by suspended Trinamool MLA Humayun Kabir,” the Trinamool source said.
“Reports say that discontent among Muslims has escalated because of the state’s failure to protect the increased OBC reservation for them or to stall the implementation of the Centre’s Waqf Amendment Act. Recent moves such as establishing the Jagannath Temple in Digha have also angered a segment among them.
“So, this is a crucial time to take visible steps to keep the minority vote bank intact. The reports from districts like Malda and Murshidabad, which are known Trinamool strongholds, do not look good.”
Trinamool holds 20 of the 22 Assembly seats in Murshidabad, and 8 of the 12 in Malda.
“Trinamool’s target is to win all these seats in next year’s elections amid the BJP’s Hindutva consolidation drive, powered by the situation in Bangladesh,” a source said.
A political observer said that balancing the Muslim and Hindu vote banks would be crucial for Trinamool.
Mamata will on Monday lay the foundation stone for the Durga Angan, a temple-like platform dedicated to Goddess Durga in New Town, seen widely as another move to woo Hindu voters after the inauguration of the Jagannath Temple in Digha.
In her post on Saturday, Mamata tried to provide succour to Muslims.
“Very recently, various forms of oppression have descended upon some migrant workers from the Jangipur area in BJP-ruled Odisha,” she wrote.
“It is extremely unfortunate that a young migrant worker from the Suti area of Jangipur was beaten to death in Sambalpur on December 24.
“Migrant workers in Murshidabad are returning home terrified from Odisha. In this heartbreaking incident, we stand with the families.”