Asraful Islam, 28, boarded the first available train from Ahmedabad to head back home in Assam’s Barpeta district following hate attacks on migrant workers in Gujarat.

The attacks were triggered by the alleged involvement of migrants from Bihar in the rape of a 14-month-old girl in Sabarkantha district on September 28. After the incident occurred, six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, witnessed sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people.

Asraful, who reached his Barpeta Road residence on Thursday, recalled how he, along with 75 others from the lower Assam district, hurriedly boarded a train at Ahmedabad railway station fearing for their lives after being threatened by a mob to leave Gujarat before October 12.

Narrating his ordeal, Asraful said, “We were so scared that we took the first available train on Saturday to return home.

“I have left my job and even my outstanding salary as we were told the violence will turn worse. I saw miscreants barging into my neighbourhood and beating up migrant workers, particularly those from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” he said.

Asraful had gone to Gujarat two months back to work in a steel pipe manufacturing unit at Rampur in Ahmedabad district.

“There is an atmosphere of fear and mistrust in Gujarat. Our landlord asked us to vacate the house saying that he cannot guarantee our safety. Even police and the local administration seemed helpless in curbing the violence,” he said.

“Our employer did not want us to leave but we have no option since some locals had threatened us with dire consequences if we do not return home immediately. They were saying that no non-Gujarati will be allowed to work there,” Asraful said.

“We are poor and that is why we had gone there to earn a livelihood but we cannot put our lives at risk,” he said, summing up the mood.

Asraful said they are staring at an uncertain future, not knowing whether they would be able to return to Gujarat.

“I don’t know when the situation will become normal in Gujarat. We would like to appeal to our state government to take up the matter with its Gujarat counterpart and ensure that we can go back and work there without any fear,” he said.

Asraful said he had gone to Gujarat to supplement his family’s income since his father, a farmer, found it difficult to sustain them as his two brothers and sister are still students.

Dulal Hussain, 22, who is also from Bogriguri village in Barpeta Road, said he was accosted by a group of locals while returning from the factory on October 7 and asked about his native place.

“When I said I’m from Assam, they threatened to kill me if I did not leave Gujarat immediately. I got scared and spoke to my father over phone who asked me to come home,” he said.

Dulal and Asraful worked in the same factory at Rampur.

Altogether 76 workers from the state reached Barpeta on the Kamrup Express on Wednesday.

Industries in Gujarat are also facing the brunt of the anti-migrant violence. Industry associations said the exodus of migrant labourers is likely to affect nearly 20 per cent of the production in the crucial pre-Diwali period.

Gujarat home minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said efforts were under way to bring back the migrant workers who had fled.

He said it is the responsibility of the state government to provide security to those who come to Gujarat for employment from other states and appealed to those who have fled to come back to the state.

He said additional forces have been deployed in industrial areas for the security of migrants.

“The attack on migrant workers is highly condemnable. The chief minister has instructed us to take all necessary steps to stop the attacks. I also appeal to people not to be misled by those who are inciting people for their political gains,” Jadeja said.