‘Bengalis treated as infiltrators’: Mamata Banerjee claims migrants being forcibly evicted in Delhi

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of treating persons from West Bengal as “infiltrators”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that residents of a settlement occupied predominantly by Bengali migrant workers in New Delhi are being forcibly evicted.

“Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi,” she said.

In a post on X, the Trinamool Congress chief said that she was “deeply disturbed by the alarming news of harassment” faced by Bengali-speaking migrant workers living in Jai Hind Colony in Vasant Kunj.

The chief minister claimed that their water supply was cut off on orders from the BJP government in Delhi. In addition, their electricity meters were confiscated and power was abruptly shut off on Tuesday, she claimed.

“Residents also claim Delhi Police, backed by RAF [Rapid Action Force] personnel, blocked private water tankers they had arranged and paid for,” Banerjee said.

The forced eviction was underway despite the matter being pending in court, the chief minister claimed. “How can we claim to be a democratic republic if the basic right to shelter, water and electricity were being trampled upon,” she asked.

Banerjee said that there were more than 1.5 crore migrant workers in West Bengal who “lived with dignity”. “But the same cannot be said for BJP-ruled states, where Bengalis are being...

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