Bengali migrant workers join rally, recount tales of detention horror

Kolkata: Singur resident Jhantu Mondal (47), who was rounded up from near his work site in Odisha and confined to a small room for nearly a week on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi, on Wednesday walked along with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who took to the street to protest against the illegal detention of Bengali-speaking migrant labourers across BJP-govt states. Mondal, who had over the past decade worked at several construction sites outside Bengal, such as Vanarasi and the Andamans, went to Jharsuguda in Odisha to work at a construction site of a commercial building. "Five of us stayed about 1 km from the site. In our free time, we would roam around. One evening, we were talking among ourselves, when some unknown people accosted us and called us Bangladeshis. As we protested, a scuffle broke out," Mondal recounted. Their ordeal did not end there. "The next morning, cops hauled us to the police station, where we were asked to show identity documents to prove we were not from Bangladesh. Though I showed them my Aadhaar card, they kept asking for papers to prove my parents were Indians. They confined us to a small room and gave us food twice a day. After almost a week in the detention camp, I returned home two days ago. I have decided never to go back there." Apart from Mondal, several migrant workers, who were illegally detained in other states, also joined the protest march from College Square to Dorina Crossing. Among them was Islam Sheikh (48), a resident of Bankura, who was detained by Odisha cops. "Upon my release from the detention camp, I returned home, swearing never to go back to that state to work. They singled out Bengali-speaking workers and tortured them on suspicion of being illegal immigrants. I was confined to a detention camp though my Aadhaar card mentioned I was from Bankura. Such atrocities must stop," Sheikh said.Gulias Shah, a mason from Purulia, was among the workers detained and abused in Maharashtra. "Why are atrocities being meted out to poor workers like us? I had gone there for better pay. We from Bengal stayed together and spoke with each other in our mother tongue. Why did they (cops) take offence to it? They refused to accept our Indian identity, called us Bangladeshis and detained us," Shah said.Among the rally participants were migrant workers, who had "fled back home", after hearing horror stories about the torture being faced by hundreds of labourers. Samar Dutta, a resident of Belgachhia, said, "I went to Rajasthan last month in search of a job. But I came back about 10 days ago as my family was scared for me after getting news of the atrocities being meted out to Bengali-speaking workers outside the state." Naresh Kumar Gupta from Maniktala, who worked in a hosiery factory, joined the rally with a big poster hung around his shoulder. "I sympathise with those who were detained wrongfully and abused. In Delhi, electricity was snapped in a slum where Bengali workers live, and they are afraid that their houses may be pulled down. I am here to protest against such atrocity," said Gupta.