The Odisha police’s detention of 444 migrant workers in Jharsuguda district on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals has triggered backlash from Trinamoool Congress leaders and families of the detained.
The migrants — reportedly from West Bengal districts including Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda, Purba Medinipur, Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman, and South 24 Parganas — were picked up on Monday, during raids in colonies where Bengali-speaking labourers reside.
The Odisha government has asked all districts to identify holding centres to detect, identify and deport those who are unable to show proof of citizenship.
In a video message posted Wednesday on her X handle, TMC MP Mahua Moitra said, “Twenty-three migrant workers from my Lok Sabha constituency, Mirzapur village in Panighata GP in Nadia district, are facing illegal detention at Orient police station in Jharsuguda. They are among 440 workers being held under the pretext of a documentation drive. All 23 have valid Aadhaar and EPIC cards.”
She added: “Please don’t think there’s no one to fight for these workers. If they are not released immediately, we will file 23 habeas corpus petitions and I will go there myself.”
Criticising the Odisha government, she said, “In 23 years of Naveen Patnaik’s BJD government, this has never happened. But in the past year, since the BJP came to power (in the state), this has become a daily occurrence.”
Moitra further warned of repercussions: “Fifty percent of Odisha’s tourism revenue comes from Bengali tourists. They are the ones who stay in your hotels, eat at your restaurants, visit your pilgrimage sites. What if Bengali tourists stop going to Odisha?”
However, speaking to The Indian Express, inspector general (IG), northern range at Sambalpur Himanshu Lal had said the individuals “lack valid documentation to establish their residency or citizenship” which has “necessitated” the verification process.
Lal said that the detainees are being held in designated facilities with access to adequate food, water, hygiene and medical care. “Every effort is made to uphold the rights of Indian citizens while maintaining the integrity of the process,” he said, claiming that the verification is being conducted by senior officials with multiple layers of scrutiny to ensure no Indian citizen is wrongfully detained or harassed.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and Chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Labour Welfare Board, Samirul Islam, also criticised the detentions in a post on X. “The BJP-ruled Odisha government recently detained over 200 migrant workers from Bengal on suspicion of being Bangladeshis… We have already moved the court. If this barbaric attitude continues, we will launch a larger movement,” he said, adding that the West Bengal Chief Secretary had written to his Odisha counterpart.
Speaking to The Indian Express over phone from Jharsuguda, Kabir Sheikh, a plastic goods vendor, said, “The police came and picked up several workers from our colony. They showed their documents but were still taken to a detention centre. I was away at the time, which is probably why I wasn’t detained.”
In Birbhum’s Paikar police station area in Bengal, families of 13 detained labourers submitted their documents to local police.
“They were working in construction. My son Hasimuddin Sheikh and my cousin Nijamuddin Sheikh are among those picked up. We just want them back — they’ve worked outside Bengal for years, and nothing like this has happened before,” said Hajimuddin Sheikh of Kutulpur village.
Selim Sheikh, father of Noor Mohammed Sheikh, a mason detained in Odisha, added: “We have all his documents. I just want my son to return.”
The incident comes close on the heels of similar detentions of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh.
On June 14, seven individuals from West Bengal — including four from Murshidabad, one from Purba Bardhaman, and a couple from North 24 Parganas — were reportedly detained in Mumbai, declared Bangladeshi nationals, and pushed across the border by the BSF at 3.30 am. Following the Bengal government’s intervention, they were brought back and reunited with their families.
(With inputs from Sujit Bisoyi)