Kolkata: As many as 27 of 30 Bengali migrant workers, held by Surajkund police in Faridabad since July 15, have been released, Trinamool Congress MP and chairman of West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board Samirul Islam said on Saturday. While they were released in a phased manner, three still remain in detention. All of them worked as ragpickers and hail from Nadia.On July 16, CM Mamata Banerjee walked from College Square to Esplanade to protest the detentions of Bengali migrants in different parts of the country. She claimed that the Centre “issued a secret notification in Feb to detain and arrest anyone speaking in Bengali in case of any suspicion”. Calling it “super-Emergency”, Banerjee also signalled that the state administration would legally challenge the detentions of Bengali-speaking migrant workers.Highlighting the continuing harassment of Bengali-speaking workers in BJP-governed states like Odisha, Assam, and Delhi, Islam added that even members of the Matua community and Rajbanshis were being detained and arrested.Islam alleged that migrant Bengalis were being labelled as Rohingya and Bangladeshis, without verifying their identity. “The same thing happened in BJP-governed Maharashtra too. In Pune, Matuas were detained on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. Shockingly, BJP MP and junior Union minister Shantanu Thakur, himself a Matua, is silent on the issue,” he said.Mamata Bala Thakur, TMC’s RS MP and a Matua leader , on Saturday visited the houses of some of the detained Matuas living in Bongaon to assure them that the state govt was taking all steps to ensure their early release.
