‘Atrocious and terrible’: TMC expresses shock at detention of Bengali-speaking workers in Gurugram

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she was shocked at reports alleging that several migrant Bengali-speaking workers were being detained in Gurugram in Haryana.

“This is atrocious and terrible,” the Trinamool Congress chief said on X. “We are not going to tolerate this.”

On July 19, the police in Gurugram detained at least 74 migrant workers on the suspicion that they were from Bangladesh, The Wire reported. Of these, 11 were from West Bengal and 63 from Assam.

The workers have been detained at a municipal community centre in Gurugram’s Sector 10A, Newslaundry reported.

Amid the crackdown, hundreds of migrant workers have reportedly fled Gurugram for fear of being detained.

Since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Bengali-speaking migrant workers have been rounded up by the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party and asked to prove that they are Indian citizens. In some cases, individuals who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

Banerjee on Thursday said she also received reports from other states like Rajasthan about West Bengal residents being “pushed” into Bangladesh although they had official documentation.

“There are tortures and tortures on hapless poor Bengali workers from West Bengal in these States,” she said. “…Stop this linguistic terror.”

Have been increasingly receiving reports of detentions of...

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