Trinamool Congress MPs on Monday raised in Parliament the alleged discrimination of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in various states.

In a written question in the Lok Sabha, party MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee sought data on migrant workers and asked whether workers from Bengal had been detained or discriminated against based on their language.

Bypassing the question on discrimination, minister of state for labour Shobha Karandlaje said over 31.39 crore unorganised workers, including migrants, had registered on the government's eShram portal as of December 3.

During Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool member Sagarika Ghosh said migrant labourers from Bengal faced harassment and threats of eviction simply because they spoke the Bengali language. She said the Jai Hind Bengali migrant colony in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, where migrant workers had been living for decades, had been excluded from the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). She said Sonali Khatoon, a Bengali migrant labourer, had been illegally deported to Bangladesh.

Ghosh wanted to know if 31.15 per cent of the constructions under the PMAY was still incomplete and the steps taken to provide affordable housing to migrant workers.

Urban development minister Manohar Lal Khattar said land and colonisation were state issues. “Our job is to bring new guidelines, technology and financial assistance. We ask the states to raise demands. Based on their demands, we help them under the PMAY. In Bengal, 6.15 lakh houses were sanctioned and 6.06 lakh have been grounded and 4.95 lakh houses have been completed,” he said.

Trinamool MP Ritabrata Banerjee also raised the discrimination issue while demanding that Poila Boisakh be recognised as a day of Bengali pride. “Rabindranath’s language is being insulted. They are insulting Raja Ram Mohan Roy by calling him a British stooge,” he said.