"Is it illegal to speak Bengali?" Probably yes. We were humiliated and tormented for this offense by being labeled as Bangladeshis." These heartbreaking remarks from Aminul Haq, a migrant in Murshidabad, West Bengal, highlight a troubling trend: Bengali-speaking laborers in India are being misdiagnosed, arrested, and even forcibly deported as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. From Maharashtra to Rajasthan, migrants like Haq and hundreds more live in dread, targeted not for their acts but for the language they speak. This is the story behind the mounting uproar over migrant laborers from West Bengal being considered as foreigners in their own country.
1. Aminul Haq's Ordeal Aminul Haq worked as a worker in Thane, Maharashtra, until dread took over his livelihood. He fled to his hamlet in Murshidabad after watching five other laborers, all of whom spoke Bengali, being forcibly transferred to Bangladesh. He chuckles: "We were insulted and harassed by labeling us Bangladeshis." His ordeal highlights a troubling trend: migrant Bengali-speaking laborers are being labeled as outsiders merely on the basis of language.
2. Rajasthan: Nine Hours Detention for Speaking Bengali Police in Alwar, Rajasthan, apprehended over 300 migrant workers from North Dinajpur and detained them for approximately 10 hours on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. What's the reason? They spoke in Bengali. Workers described being forced to stand in the blazing sun before being herded into a community hall, where they were constantly questioned despite having appropriate identification. One driver, Hamidur Rahaman, stated that they were informed they'd be "pushed into Bangladesh" if they couldn't show they weren't foreign citizens.
Fearful of additional harassment, many people began speaking Hindi among themselves. "Now we speak in Hindi so people understand we're Indians, not Bangladeshis," according to a worker.
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3. Mamata Banerjee Speaks Out for West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sounded the alarm about Rajasthan's measures, drawing attention to the wave of linguistic profiling. She stated that roughly "300-400 Bengali-speaking migrant workers" were detained in Rajasthan despite having proper Indian credentials, solely because they spoke their native tongue.
Banerjee questioned whether speaking in Bangla, the language of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, is a crime. "These are Indian citizens," and encouraged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take note of the ongoing injustice.
4. Forced deportations by the Maharashtra Police and BSF Earlier this month, the Maharashtra police and Border Security Force (BSF) deported seven Bengali-speaking migrant workers, including Mehbub Sheikh, Nizamuddin Sheikh, and Minarul Sheikh, from Mumbai. Mistaken for Bangladeshis, they were flown to Siliguri and Agartala before being driven across the border by the BSF on June 14.
The migrants had Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, and other acceptable documentation. However, officials refused to accept their proofs. One worker described a police officer as saying, "Your documents are fake." They were brutally shoved across the wire into Bangladesh, but were returned after intervention by Mamata Banerjee and authorities from West Bengal's Migrant Workers Welfare Board.
5. The Maharashtra incident: Wrongful deportation and trauma. Three of the seven deported laborers, Minarul Sekh, Nazimuddin Mondal, and Mustafa Kamal, were rescued and returned home after a flag meeting between BSF and Bangladesh's border force.
Another couple from Bagdah, Fazel Mondal and Taslima, who were also deported, were brought back after coordinated efforts by the West Bengal administration.
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