In letter to Shah, MP seeks protection of Bengali workers

Kolkata: Trinamool MP and Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board chairman Samirul Islam has written to Union home minister Amit Shah, urging him to ensure safety of the migrant workers from Bengal who have been facing attacks in states like Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi and Maharashtra in recent times and for which he had written to the Union home minister Amit Shah to ensure saefty of the Bengali speaking population."Even after Bengali being accorded classical language status by Union govt, people speaking Bengali are being attacked," the letter stated.Islam urged Shah to issue directives to states to ensure dignity and the constitutional rights of Bengali-speaking citizens. "I have received numerous disturbing complaints about Bengali citizens being assaulted and tortured and harassed," his letter stated. He mentioned that despite having legitimate documents like Aadhaar card, EPIC and passport, some Bengali citizens had been held by cops in Gujarat without substantial cause. Islam urged proper verification of documents before any action. He also urged the home minister to ask states to coordinate with Bengal govt, whenever a Bengal resident was in distress.The MP pointed out that several Bengal residents had been detained in Gujarat, despite having valid identity cards. "I have received disturbing complaints about Bengalis being assaulted and harassed. Even more alarming are reports of Bengali settlements being set ablaze, resulting in the destruction of vital documents and displacement of families," Islam's letter said.This hostility had started in 2014 and now it has escalated in the recent months, Islam wrote. He stated that as a Rajya Sabha member he had repeatedly raised the issue in the RS, but it had not been controlled. "Bengal continues to welcome millions of migrant workers, without a single reported incident of regional or linguistic discrimination. Why should people of Bengal seeking livelihood in other states be brutalised for speaking their mother tongue? Every Indian citizen has the right to live and work in any part of the country," the MP's letter said.