A Bengali-speaking Muslim youth from Hooghly’s Goghat, who had been working in Odisha’s Cuttack, has returned home after alleged BJP workers forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and snatched ₹50,000 that he had earned by working as a mason.
Raja Ali, 27, among the many migrant workers from Bengal who have in recent months faced harassment in BJP-ruled Odisha, reached Goghat's Birampur village on January 9, two days after his ordeal.
Ali said that on January 7, a group of "BJP workers" barged inside his rented room in Cuttack, and demanded to see his identity documents.
“Around 10–15 people, who were BJP workers, entered my rented room and caught me. They wanted to know my name and see my identity documents. Once they saw all my documents, they forced me to chant the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan,” said Ali.
"I told them that because I am a Muslim I cannot chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. But they punched and kicked me, pulled my hair. They also threatened to kill me if I did not comply, and I was ultimately forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'. Then they searched my belongings and took away ₹50,000 that I had earned through rigorous labour as a stone mason during my stay in Odisha,” he added.
Birampur village falls under Bhadur panchayat in Goghat. Around 170 youths from the village work in different states, including Odisha.
Ali had gone to Cuttack some eight months ago to work as a stone mason.
He alleged that he was earlier "threatened by people there" for speaking in Bengali, after which he decided to be as inconspicuous as possible. To avoid trouble, he claimed, the owner of the house where he stayed on rent used to lock the door from the outside.
According to Ali, on January 7, the 10–15 persons broke open the lock to enter the room and attack him.
After his return, Raja lodged a complaint about his ordeal in Cuttack with Goghat police.
Ali’s return to Birampur has terrified the families of other migrant workers, some of whom are still working in Odisha.
His father, Sheikh Mainuddin, a marginal farmer, said he did not know what to do now.
“We are poor people and my earnings are next to nothing. My son Raja Ali is basically the sole breadwinner of our family. If he cannot go back to work, it will be a severe blow to us. However, after such an incident, how can we allow him to return to Odisha? His mother and I are very frightened," Mainuddin said.
"What was my son’s fault?” his mother Shakuntala Bibi asked.
Political ripples
Migrant worker Raja Ali's assault has triggered a political slugfest in Hooghly’s Goghat, a BJP stronghold since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Trinamool Congress MLA from Arambagh, Mitali Bag, visited the family and assured them of legal support to help Ali get justice.
"It is very unfortunate that incidents of attacks on Bengali-speaking migrant workers have increased in Odisha and other BJP-ruled states. This is why we claim that the BJP is anti-Bengali. Raja Ali had been facing torture for the past few months, but finally returned home after the torture crossed all limits. We stand with the family,” said MLA Bag.
Contacted, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya, however, declined to comment on the alleged attack on the migrant worker in the Odisha city. He stuck to the narrative that people from Bengal were forced to move to other states because of a lack of job opportunities in the state.
"The major question is why people from Bengal are going outside the state. Ask Trinamool to bring them all back. Who forced them to go to Odisha?” Bhattacharya asked.
Countering this, Samirul Islam, the Trinamool Rajya Sabha member and chairperson of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board, said that it was a fundamental right of every Indian citizen to work anywhere in the country.
“The question is why will people from Bengal face such harassment in another Indian state. Every Indian has the right to work anywhere. It is unfortunate that instead of providing security, BJP-ruled states are sitting idle while migrant workers from Bengal are being tortured. That is why we call them anti-Bengali,” Islam said.
