300 Bengal workers ‘unnecessarily’ languishing in Rajasthan jails: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata, June 24 Around 300 migrant workers from Itahar in the North Dinajpur district of West Bengal are “unnecessarily” languishing behind bars in Rajasthan just because their mother language is Bengali and are being suspected as Bangladeshis, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday.

As the Chief Minister was in the Assembly on the last day of the monsoon session of the House, she was informed by her party legislators from Itahar, Masaraf Hussain on the development that 300 workers from that constituency are being kept behind bars on suspicion of being Bangladeshis.

The Chief Minister said that BJP-ruled states are especially having problems with Bengali-speaking workers.

“I do not know the mindset of the Prime Minister about the Bengalis. If necessary, I will speak to him about the matter. But surely Bengali-speaking people are facing problems in the BJP-ruled states. Does this mean that Tamil-speaking people should be sent to Sri Lanka and Nepali-speaking people should be sent to Nepal?” the Chief Minister said.

She also said that she had directed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to interact with the Rajasthan government and ensure that the jailed migrant workers are brought back.

She pointed out that her party would be organising protest programmes against the harassment of Bengali-speaker people in the BJP-ruled states.

Earlier, addressing the House, the Chief Minister complained of the reluctance of the Union government to initiate a formal Indo-Bhutan Joint River Commission with a representative from West Bengal.

“Every year, North Bengal is flooded because of the water released from Bhutan,” she said.

The Chief Minister also blamed Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for releasing water without giving prior intimation to the West Bengal government, which is resulting in a flood-like situation in certain pockets in West Bengal.

--IANS

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