In yet another incident targeting Bengali-speaking Muslim migrant workers, a 30-year-old labourer from West Bengal was lynched in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Wednesday night. Police have arrested six people in connection with the killing.
The victim, Juyel Rana, was a native of Chakbahadurpur village under the Suti police station in Murshidabad district.
His co-workers and family members alleged that he was assaulted after being suspected of being an “illegal Bangladeshi migrant.”
Odisha Police, however, denied that the attack was linked to such suspicions, claiming that the accused and the victim were known to each other.
According to police, the incident took place late Wednesday evening in the Shantinagar area when Juyel was returning from work.
Paltu Sheikh, one of the eight construction workers from Murshidabad working in Odisha, told The Indian Express that the group was at a tea stall when some people asked Juyel for a bidi. “They then demanded Aadhaar cards and asked where we were from. We showed our Aadhaar cards, but suddenly the group, armed with bamboo sticks, began beating us. Jewel was struck on the head,” he said.
The workers rushed Jewel to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Two other labourers, Akiur Rahman and Sanowar Hossain, who were injured in the attack, are currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Sambalpur.
Paltu Sheikh said he had been working in Odisha for 12 years and had never experienced such violence before.
Sambalpur Additional Superintendent of Police Srimanta Barik said the labourers from West Bengal had been living in the area for several years and were familiar to local residents.
“The incident began over a demand for a bidi. After the workers refused, a group suddenly attacked them. Six people have been arrested and we are investigating whether others were involved,” he said.
Back in Chakbahadurpur village, the news of Juyel Rana’s death plunged the family into grief.
He had gone to Odisha on December 20 to work as a mason for three months, earning a daily wage of ₹600.
Local TMC leaders, along with Suti MLA Emani Biswas, reached Juyel‘s home and assured assistance.
The Trinamool Congress described the killing as part of “a disturbing pattern where Bengali migrant workers are increasingly subjected to suspicion, harassment and violence in BJP-ruled states, simply for their language and identity,” warning that despite repeated alerts about the dangers of branding innocent workers as suspects, “the violence continues, unchecked and unanswered.”
Questioning how many more lives would be lost before what it called “this inhuman campaign of hate by the BJP” is stopped, the party said that while the Bharatiya Janata Party spreads fear and hatred, its leaders stand with affected families and will continue to raise their voices for the safety, dignity and constitutional rights of every Bengali migrant worker.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, also chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Labour Welfare Board, alleged that such incidents were occurring repeatedly in BJP-ruled Odisha and accused the party of targeting Bengali migrant workers.
“Once again Bengali speaking migrant workers targeted in a BJP-ruled state,” he said, asking, “How many lives of innocent Bengali speaking people the BJP wants?”
“This is nothing but another example of how BJP treats Bengalis. Now the time has come to throw BJP out and common people of Bengal will teach Bangla-Birodhi BJP a lesson democratically in upcoming polls,” he said.
He said the Bengal government should take up the matter with the Odisha government and ensure compensation for the family.
Asif Faruk, state general secretary of the Parijayi Sramik Aikya Manch (Migrant Workers Unity Forum), said Bengali migrants were being targeted not only in Odisha but in several other states as well. Odisha is among the states that have intensified crackdowns on alleged “illegal migrants” from Bangladesh, during which several Bengali-speaking migrant workers have reportedly been detained or assaulted.
The post 19-year-old Bengali Muslim migrant worker lynched in Odisha after being labelled “Bangladeshi” appeared first on Maktoob media.
