Chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed concern over the disruption power and water supply at the Jai Hind camp in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, comprising mostly Bengali speaking migrants.

“There are over 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal who are earning their livelihood with dignity. We cannot say the same for the BJP-ruled states, where Bengali-speaking people are being branded as infiltrators,” Mamata wrote on social media. “Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi. These individuals are as much citizens of India as anyone else, regardless of what language they speak.”

At the Jai Hind camp in Vasant Kunj, home to Bengali-speaking migrants from Cooch Behar in north Bengal who make a living as domestic and sanitation workers, residents have been without electricity and water for more than two days.

“I have heard on the instructions of the BJP government, water supply to the colony has been stopped. Few days back the electric meters installed at the homes were removed. The residents complained they had pooled money to get private water tanker but the Delhi Police and its Rapid Action Force have stopped it. At this moment a forced eviction is on. If right to housing, electricity and water are trampled, how can we call ourselves a democratic republic?” asked the chief minister.

The chief minister said the migrant workers community in Delhi had played a significant role in building the national capital.

Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool have been consistently speaking against Bengali-speaking people being branded as Bangladeshis especially in the BJP-ruled states like Maharashtra and Odisha. A state body had moved the Calcutta High Court against the alleged discrimination. Last week, the state chief secretary Manoj Pant wrote to his Odisha counterpart over the alleged discriminatory act by the Odisha police against people from Bengal.

Last month a resident of Cooch Behar Uttam Kumar Brajabasi requested the district magistrate that he be provided with documents to prove before the Assam government’s Foreigner’s Tribunal that he was indeed an Indian citizen and not a Bangladeshi as claimed by the Assam government.

She alleged that this incident in Delhi is part of a broader pattern of hostility towards Bengali-speaking communities, citing similar reports from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh. The West Bengal government, she said, would raise the issue in every possible forum.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) also weighed in through its official X account, framing the eviction as an outcome of the BJP’s alleged disdain for Bengalis.

"This witch-hunt is being spearheaded by BJP’s lumpen land mafia, backed by @official_dda, enabled by @gupta_rekha, and protected by @DelhiPolice. And that, right there, is why golgappa will never become phuchka. And BJP will NEVER win Bengal," the party said.

RJD MP Manoj Jha also raised concerns on Tuesday. Citing information shared with him, he said that the residents, mostly Bengali Muslims, had faced document verification checks in December. According to him, the eviction process seems to be proceeding even though legal cases are still pending.

Jha described the cutting of water and electricity, along with the reported police action against private tankers, as violations of governance and democratic principles. "If true, doesn't it cross all norms of governance and rule of law in any society that cares to call itself a democracy? This is just the very opposite of a civilised society," he said.

Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday defended that demolition by citing the court’s decision, and said that homes had been allotted to those affected.

BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya rejected the allegations made by the Trinamool.

"What is truly shameful is that Mamata Banerjee equates genuine residents of West Bengal with illegal infiltrators — Bangladeshis who have flooded into India using fraudulent Aadhaar and ration cards, mostly issued in 24 North Parganas," Malviya said.

"These illegal migrants vote for the Trinamool Congress, helping the party stay in power — just so the cycle of infiltration and appeasement never ends. Stop insulting Bengal. Stop protecting illegality," he added.

The issue has also revived recent memories of the June 1 demolition at Madrasi Camp in Jangpura, another informal settlement in Delhi. Local authorities carried out the demolition after the Delhi high court ruled that the land, located along the Barapullah drain, needed to be cleared to prevent flooding during the monsoon.

In multiple rulings over the past few months, the Delhi high court has allowed eviction drives to go ahead across several parts of the city. In one such ruling related to the Bhoomiheen Camp in Kalkaji, the court said that encroachments on public land could not continue indefinitely, even if rehabilitation claims were pending.