Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched a sharp attack on BJP-ruled governments in states and at the Centre over the alleged "push back" of migrant workers from Bengal to Bangladesh, accusing the administrations of labelling those individuals as Bangladeshis only because they speak in Bengali.
“Aren’t you ashamed? Even though they have identity proofs like Aadhaar cards and PAN cards — everything — just because they speak Bengali, they are being labelled as Bangladeshis and sent to Bangladesh, wherever the double-engine government is in power in India,” Mamata said on the floor of the Assembly, targeting BJP MLAs.
“Is speaking Bengali a crime? You (BJP) should be ashamed that by doing this, you're making everyone who speaks Bengali appear to be Bangladeshi,” she added.
Mamata’s remarks came after at least five migrant workers — detained earlier this month by police in Maharashtra and Delhi on suspicion of being Bangladeshis — had been handed over to the BSF, which allegedly pushed them to the neighbouring country without verifying their citizenship status with the Bengal government.
The Mamata government first learned of Mehebub Sheikh, a migrant worker from Murshidabad's Bhagawangola, being "pushed back" to Bangladesh by the BSF on Saturday.
Subsequently, four more similar complaints reached the state government, prompting it to contact the BSF and demand the repatriation of the affected individuals.
On Sunday, three of the five workers — Minarul Sheikh and Nizamuddin Sheikh from Murshidabad, and Mostafa Kamal Sheikh from East Burdwan’s Manteswar — were repatriated following a flag meeting between the BSF and the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh). They were taken to the Mekhliganj police station in Cooch Behar, where the police on Monday morning arranged for their transport home to Murshidabad and East Burdwan.
“Despite showing our identity proofs, the BSF beat us and forced us to walk into Bangladeshi territory. There, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel nabbed us. We were afraid we would end up in a Bangladeshi jail, but fortunately, we were able to return home,” said Minarul, before beginning his journey back to Murshidabad.
Sandip Garai, the additional superintendent of police of Mathabhanga, said they had become aware of the trio the day before.
Garai said: “We immediately contacted BSF officers and insisted that the three be brought back. Becasue of our pressure, the BSF contacted the BGB, and yesterday (Sunday) the trio were handed over to the Mekhliganj police station.”
On Monday, two more migrant workers, including Mehebub Sheikh of Bhagabangola, returned home with the assistance of state police.
A source said another migrant worker from Murshidabad’s Hariharpara, Shamim Khan, was also pushed to Bangladesh, along with Mehebub.
Officials from the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board suspect that more Bengali-speaking migrant workers were sent to Bangladesh by the BSF.
“We are relieved that, with the intervention of our chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, all five who had been sent to Bangladesh have been reunited with their families. However, we suspect there are more such cases, and our team is actively searching for those individuals,” said Samirul Islam, chairman of the migrant workers’ board and Trinamool Congress MP.
The BJP, however, blamed the state government for the plight of the migrant workers and alleged that Mamata herself was responsible for the situation, noting that even non-BJP-ruled states were unwilling to accept workers from Bengal.
“There may be one or two isolated incidents of such pushbacks. But we believe the Mamata Banerjee government is responsible for their plight, because it has become nearly impossible to distinguish between genuine citizens and infiltrators with fake documents. Thousands of people from Bangladesh have prepared fake documents showing them as Bengal residents and are now moving around the country as Indian citizens,” said BJP Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya.