Blaming ‘the BJP’s language politics’, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday targeted the BJP over the issue of migrant labourers from West Bengal being allegedly harassed, detained and then pushed into Bangladesh.

“It is happening in all BJP-ruled states everyday. It is happening in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and other states. Even today, we have the news that 300 to 400 migrant labourers are being harassed in Rajasthan,” she said to mediapersons in the state Assembly, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “pay heed”.

Banerjee said that Bengal’s “highly skilled” migrant workers, “over 22 lakh” of which currently work in different states, are often wooed by contractors to do so. “They are Indian citizens, they are residents of West Bengal. This is a shameful issue. We have brought back many boys and girls who have been pushed to Bangladesh,” she said.

“Only for speaking Bengali, people are pushed to Bangladesh. Tamil is spoken by people in Tamil Nadu. So will someone be sent to Sri Lanka because they speak Tamil? Nepali is the language spoken by the Gorkhas, the people of Darjeeling. Will they be sent to Nepal?” she said.

Recently, seven people who were past residents of West Bengal were detained by Mumbai police and pushed into Bangladesh by the BSF at 3.30 am on June 14. Apart from four people from Murshidabad and one from Purba Bardhaman, a husband-wife duo from the North 24 Parganas district was brought back from Bangladesh after the West Bengal government’s intervention.

There were also reports from Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra of migrant workers from Bengal detained by police, allegedly on suspicion of them being Bangladesh nationals.

“Working in the fields of gold artisan, textiles, construction and others… There are 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal. We respect them. Then why are you (BJP) not respecting our migrant workers?” Banerjee alleged, before stating: “The Union Home Ministry is aware and must take responsibility.”