Over 200 migrant workers from various districts of Bengal have been detained in the BJP-ruled Odisha on alleged suspicion that they are Bangladeshis, handing the Trinamool Congress a fresh weapon to further its narrative that the saffron camp is harassing Bengali-speaking people.

A source in Trinamool said the party had decided to fight the illegal detention of Bengal-speaking people in BJP-ruled states both in court and on the streets.

“We have received a report that 200-odd Bengali-speaking migrant workers, residents of Bengal districts like Murshidabad, Nadia, Hooghly, East Burdwan and North 24-Parganas, are detained in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district. The Odisha government apprehended them, suspecting them to be Bangladeshi nationals and refused to accept the validity of relevant documents like Aadhaar and voter identity cards,” said a source in the Mamata Banerjee government.

Samirul Islam, the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board, said it had become a norm in BJP-ruled states, particularly Odisha, where the local administration illegally detained migrant workers from Bengal. “They are Indian citizens and Bengal residents. Despite repeated appeals to both the Narendra Modi government and the Odisha government, the situation remains unchanged,” Islam said

“The new report of further detention of over 200 Bengali-speaking people further proves that the move is intentional. If this problem is not addressed, we will launch a movement against the atrocities on our people,” added Islam, who is also a Trinamool Rajya Sabha member.

Trinamool’s Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra took to her social media handle to mount an attack on the Mohan Charan Majhi-led Odisha government, citing that 23 migrant workers from Nadia were among those who were detained in Jharsuguda district.

Although the final plan to launch the movement or pitch the narrative to Bengal voters ahead of next year’s Assembly polls was still in the works, a source said Trinamool wouldn’t let the issue go.

“It is a serious issue for us, as the BJP-ruled states have been torturing our people. It will help us show the people of Bengal how the BJP is anti-Bengal. We will reach out to people in different societies, asking for their support for those suffering,” said a senior Trinamool leader.

Although Bengali-speaking migrant workers were detained in different BJP-ruled states like Delhi and Maharashtra, a senior official claimed the highest number of cases had been reported from Odisha.

According to recent reports, at least 600 migrant workers from Bengal have been harassed in various ways in Odisha, suspecting them to be Bangladeshis. There are allegations that the migrant workers were even kept in police custody for over 24 hours without being produced in court.

Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant has written to his Odisha counterpart Manoj Ahuja, seeking “immediate intervention with utmost sensitivity” from the Odisha government to stop the alleged harassment and illegal detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in various parts of the neighbouring state.

Trinamool sees the detention as a move against Bengal, citing the recent deportation of at least seven people from Bengal who were “pushed back” to Bangladesh after being branded as nationals of the neighbouring country. The Bengal government has also come to know recently that six persons, including a five-year-old boy from Birbhum’s Muraroi, who had been detained by Delhi police, were deported to Bangladesh.

“The chief minister is very serious about the issue of migrant workers. She had already mounted an attack on the BJP from the floor of the Assembly over the pushback issue during the monsoon session. She will certainly elevate the issue to new heights,” said a Trinamool source.

Islam, the Trinamool MP, said two habeas corpus petitions had already been filed in Calcutta High Court as no legal process had been followed to take migrant workers into custody in the BJP-ruled states.

A division bench is likely to hear a petition, which is related to the detention in Odisha on Friday.

The BJP claimed that the Mamata Banerjee government was responsible for the predicament Bengalis faced in other states.

“Non-BJP-ruled states are conducting similar drives. If any genuine people from Bengal have been suffering in other states, the Bengal government is responsible for it. A large number of Bangladeshis have been using fake documents to show themselves as residents of Bengal, and it has become a serious challenge to distinguish between the fake and genuine,” said BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya.