Zero FIR filed, Bengal police team sent to Odisha: Mamata on death of migrant worker
The migrant worker was allegedly killed in Sambalpur district following an altercation over a bidi
Days after a 30-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal was allegedly killed in Sambalpur district of BJP-ruled Odisha, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said a “zero FIR” was filed and a state police team went to the neighbouring state to carry out the investigation.
She condemned the “brutal oppression, harassment and violence” against Bengali-speaking people in “every BJP-ruled state”.
The migrant worker was allegedly killed in Sambalpur district following an altercation over a bidi on Wednesday.
In connection with the killing of the young man, Jewel Rana, West Bengal Police has already “registered a zero FIR at Suti police station and arrested six accused”, Banerjee said.
“A police team from West Bengal has travelled to Odisha to carry out the investigation,” she said.
“I strongly condemn the brutal oppression, harassment and violence against Bengali-speaking people in every BJP-ruled state. We stand firmly with those migrant Bengali-speaking families, which have been intimidated, victimised and subjected to inhuman treatment and assure them of all possible support,” Banerjee said on X.
Referring to the Sambalpur incident, she said migrant workers from the Jangipur region in Murshidabad have faced severe atrocities in BJP-ruled Odisha.
“It is deeply unfortunate that a young migrant worker from the Suti area of Jangipur in Murshidabad was again beaten to death in Sambalpur on December 24,” she said on the social media platform.
Banerjee claimed migrant workers from Muslim-majority Murshidabad are “now returning home in fear”.
“We stand with the families affected by this tragic incident, and financial assistance will be extended to the family of the deceased,” she said.
“We unequivocally condemn the perpetrators involved in such acts in BJP-ruled states and reiterate our commitment to provide all forms of assistance to the victims,” the chief minister said.
Speaking the Bengali language can never be a crime, the TMC supremo said.
Reacting to Banerjee’s comments, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya told reporters that “she must first explain why the state’s skilled and semi-skilled youth have to leave Bengal in search of livelihood.”
“Banerjee’s remark lays bare the fact that migrants from Bengal districts including those from the minority community have been misled by her with regard to employment opportunities. Had there been jobs in Bengal and economic growth, there would have been no need for the youths to migrate to Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana, Gurgaon and other states in search of job,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP said.
Bhattacharya further added the TMC’s jingoistic ‘outsider’ (bahiragato) narrative has led to hostilities among a section against Bengali speaking migrants.
The very fact that Bangladeshis have crossed over to India and procured documents with TMC’s support also aggravated the issue and in stray cases migrants from Bengal might have been targeted, he said.
“We appreciate the strong action taken by Odisha police against those involved in such attacks. We have faith in the police forces of other states which are not as partisan as the police force in TMC-ruled Bengal,” he said.
