Citizens' group condemns incidents targeting Bengali-speaking migrants

The group claimed that migrant workers from Delhi, Maharashtra and Odisha were directly sent to Bangladesh despite possessing valid Aadhaar and PAN cards

A group of prominent citizens under the banner Bharatiya Bhasha Samooh has expressed concern over the recent incidents related to Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in various parts of the country.

The group said it believed that linguistic attack is a "serious threat to the diversity of our country". 

 

"In the last one month, there have been reports from various parts of the country that Bengali-speaking migrant labourers are being harassed, beaten, arrested, deported to Bangladesh, and not released despite valid identity documents being shown to the police," the group said in a statement on Sunday.

 

The group feels that the only "crime" of Bengali-speaking people is that they speak in their mother tongue.

It claimed that migrant workers from Delhi, Maharashtra and Odisha were directly sent to Bangladesh despite possessing valid Aadhaar and PAN cards. 

 

"We strongly condemn the arrest and harassment of these Bengali-speaking citizens. These actions violate the rights of migrant workers guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, and their fundamental rights,? such as the right to equality, the right to life and personal liberty, and social security for inter-state migrant workers," the statement said.

The signatories to the statement include economist Jayati Ghosh, and activists Shabnam Hashmi, Sandeep Pandey, Subhash Gatade, and Anil Chamadia.