Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed concern over harassment of Bengali-speaking people in Odisha, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and said the Bengal chief secretary would write to his counterparts in those states on the issue.

“Why are migrant workers from Bengal being heckled in states like Odisha, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar? The migrant workers are being targeted only because they speak Bengali,” said the chief minister in Behrampore.

She said several people from other states worked in Bengal, and the government here did not discriminate against them. Mamata urged the states to stop the harassment of migrant workers from Bengal.

“I am requesting the states, where migrant workers from Bengal are being targeted, to stop this. Nearly 1.5 crore people from other states work here, and we don’t allow any kind of discrimination against them. Here is the difference,” said the chief minister.

Mamata's comments came against the backdrop of allegations that migrant workers from Bengal were being harassed in some parts of Odisha over the past few days.

While referring to her government’s commitment to protecting the rights and safety of people from Bengal, the chief minister said the DGP would take up the issue with the Odisha government.

“The DGP would speak to the DGP of Odisha. The chief secretary would write letters to all the states where migrant workers from Bengal are being attacked. We will not tolerate any kind of attack on the Bengali-speaking people,” Mamata said.

A group of 40 migrant workers from Malda had returned from Odisha’s Sambalpur a few days ago, allegedly after they had been threatened, abused and manhandled by a group of people there.

On reaching Malda, the migrant workers complained to Chanchal police that they had been attacked only because they belonged to Bengal and not for their religion.

Soon after the migrant workers lodged the police complaint, the ruling Trinamool Congress took up the issue to corner the BJP-ruled neighbouring state.

The TMC MP from Baharampur, Yusuf Pathan, wrote a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah on April 28, expressing concern over the ill-treatment meted out to the migrant workers from Bengal in Odisha. TMC’s Rajya Sabha member, Samirul Islam, also wrote to Shah, expressing concern over the attacks on Bengali-speaking migrant workers in different parts of the country and urged him to direct all states to protect the migrant workers from any kind of harassment.

Sources said Trinamool picked up the issue to get rid of the uncomfortable situation that the party was facing following the violence in Murshidabad.

“The chief minister now took up the issue and put the ball in the BJP’s court…. Now, the saffron camp has to prove that it was not against poor people of Bengal as migrant workers were being attacked in the BJP-ruled states,” said a Trinamool insider.