Last week, Cooch Behar's Jaripuddin Mian stood helplessly as an earthmover demolished the tea stall he used to run in Gurgaon for years.

“Only because I am a Bengali-speaking migrant, was my tea stall was demolished," said Jaripuddin on Wednesday, who returned to his village Marichpara in Tufanganj on Tuesday.

"I was branded as a Bangladeshi by Bajrang Dal cadres. I had to return home with my family,” he said, adding that he didn't know whether his tea stall was demolished by the police or by Bajrang Dal cadres. "The men who came with the earthmover were in plainclothes. I didn't dare ask them who they were," he said.

Jaripuddin, in his mid-forties, said that for the past few weeks, Bajrang Dal cadres had been insisting that Bengali-speaking migrants like him leave the locality in Gurgaon.

“They asked my landlord to evict me. All house-owners were told not to let out rooms to Bengali-speaking migrants. My landlord was scared too. He told me to leave by August 1,” Jaripuddin said.

He alleged that workers of the Hindutva outfit would often extort money from them. “Anyone refusing to pay up was publicly thrashed. The cops did nothing,” said Jaripuddin.

He said he kept hoping that things would improve in Gurgaon.

“But when they demolished my tea stall, I had nothing left. I sold my furniture and other belongings, and 25 of us came back to our village,” he said.

Amena Bibi, from the same village, said she worked as a domestic help in Gurgaon, but was now back as the torture unleashed by Bajrang Dal cadres "frightened" her.

“I have seen how a migrant worker was stripped in public and mercilessly beaten up only because he spoke Bengali. I don't know if I can go back to Gurgaon,” said Amena.

This is the refrain of most. Though the migrants are facing an uncertain future back home as far as income is concerned, they are too scared to go back to Gurgaon.

“We used to face all sorts of harassment," said Marjina, another migrant who came back from Gurgaon to Marichpara.

"Stones were pelted at our homes at night, people used to abuse us at the top of their voices. Some groups used to extort money from us regularly, saying we must pay them as we earned in their place. These same people suddenly said we were Bangladeshi infiltrators and wanted us out,” she added.

On Wednesday, Trinamool leaders met the migrant workers.

“They are yet to recover from shock. It is disappointing that cadres of some organisations tortured them in connivance with the police. We will extend them all possible help,” said Bikram Adhikari, a Trinamool leader who heads the Balarampur-I panchayat under which Marichpara falls.