A political controversy has erupted in Malda as anti-BJP parties have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of deliberately refraining from bringing up the safety and security issue of migrant workers during his public address in the Old Malda block on Saturday.
The Malda district is home to around five lakh migrant workers. Several migrant workers from Bengal have faced harassment and attacks in BJP-ruled states recently.
“Despite financial constraints, the Trinamool Congress government provided ₹2 lakh as compensation to the families of deceased migrant workers. We fought legal battles to bring back workers who were deported to Bangladesh and ensured they received social security benefits. However, the Prime Minister remained silent over the plight and suffering of the migrant workers, which exposes the BJP’s inhuman approach,” said Abdur Rahim Boxi, the Malda district president of the Trinamool Congress.
When Modi addressed a public meeting at Sahapur in Malda district, he spoke on several issues, including river erosion in Malda district, but remained silent on the concerns of migrant workers.
In the past, several migrant workers from the district had been reportedly killed in states such as Rajasthan, Kashmir, and Odisha. Some were allegedly branded as “Bangladeshis” and deported, though they were later brought back following intervention and verdicts by the Supreme Court.
Migrant workers were allegedly arrested and assaulted by local police in the BJP-ruled states. In many cases, they were targeted on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals as their mother tongue was Bengali. Apart from harassment, accidental deaths at work sites in other states have been reported regularly.
Such incidents had made Trinamool pick up the issue, and party leaders, ranging from chief minister Mamata Banerjee to the party's national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, have elaborately spoken about it to push the “anti-Bengali” narrative against the BJP.
The Left and Congress leaders in Malda have also raised questions.
“We expected the Prime Minister to announce some benefits for migrant workers. His silence on the issue was surprising,” said Isha Khan Choudhury, the Congress MP of Malda Dakshin.
Koushik Mishra, the district CPM secretary, accused the BJP of prioritising corporate interests over workers’ welfare.
“The BJP is focused on serving big capitalists. Migrant workers are invisible to them. The Prime Minister’s silence on their humiliation is disappointing,” he said.
Such accusations from the opposition have made the BJP leaders react.
Ajay Ganguly, the president of Malda south (organisational) district of the BJP, claimed that migrant workers from Bengal prefer to work in the BJP-ruled states because of higher wages and better security.
“A few stray incidents cannot hide this reality,” he said.
Pratap Singha, his counterpart in the Malda north (organisational) district of the party, blamed the successive state governments for the migration crisis.
“Industries have closed down during the Left Front regime, and the Trinamool government completed the process by driving away whatever remained. That is why people are forced to migrate. Once the BJP comes to power in Bengal, industries will flourish, and migration will stop,” he said.