Matua migrants from Bengal being harassed in Pune: TMC MP

Amid reports of migrant workers from West Bengal being targeted in BJP-ruled States, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday alleged that those who belonged to the Matua community were facing harassment in Maharashtra.

Rajya Sabha MP and chairperson of West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board Samirul Islam said his office received information about “police harassment of at least six members of the Matua community from North 24 Parganas, currently residing in Pune”.

“Members of our beloved Matua community have been facing harassment by the anti-Bengali BJP government in Maharashtra. Hatred in politics spares no one. BJP leaders are trying to malign Bengali-speaking migrant workers by branding them as Rohingyas,” the Trinamool Congress MP said.

Mr. Islam in a social media post said, “The Pune police are reportedly refusing to recognise identity cards issued by the All India Matua Mahasangha, besides EPIC and Aadhaar cards.” The TMC leader said BJP MP and Union Minister of State Santanu Thakur himself belongs to the Matua community and asked whether Matua brothers and sisters are Rohingyas?

He said that his office has “reached out to the affected family, which confirmed that the police have detained Arush Adhikary and at least five others, including minors, on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals”.

Protest planned today

The TMC leader said he will hit the streets of Kolkata today to protest against the targeting of migrants from West Bengals.

Earlier, there have been reports of migrants from the State being harassed and detained in Odisha, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The Trinamool Congress had last week alleged that over 400 migrants from the State were detained in Odisha and the State’s Chief Secretary wrote to his Odisha counterpart on the targeting of Bengali speaking migrants.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed protests to such incidents and said that speaking in Bengali does not make a person “ Bangladeshi”.