More than 2,000 migrants return to Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that her government has ensured the return of 2,000 migrant workers to Bengal from various BJP-ruled states. Delving on the citizenship issue again, Banerjee said she was wondering if “we are really independent” and stated that “our citizenship should not be snatched from us”.

Giving a call to kindle Bengali ‘asmita’, Banerjee asked the migrant workers to return to the state and assured them livelihood. “We have ensured the return of 2,000 migrant workers from various states. Bengali migrant workers are tortured in Rajasthan, MP, Haryana and all other states. In Madhya Pradesh, a tribal girl has been deported to Bangladesh,” Banerjee said. “In Gurgaon, Assam, Bengali people have been kept in detention camps. Poor people are being tortured all across the country. Matuas are also tortured,” she said.

“You can give up everything but not your identity, address and language. This motherland is my mother. I have to protect it. How can I forget it? Is it a crime to speak in my mother language?” she said.


“They are saying there is no language called Bengali. Which language did Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose speak? The national anthem is written in Bengali,” she stated.

ECI-CM tussle
Meanwhile, Banerjee has questioned the legal right of the poll panel in suspending Bengal officials and vowed to protect them. She said no FIRs will be lodged against them. Party MP Abhishek Banerjee also said the ECI is working beyond its jurisdiction. “The ECI’s responsibility begins only when the Model Code of Conduct is in place,” he said.

On August 5, ECI suspended four Bengal officials and a casual worker, and directed the Chief Secretary to lodge FIRs against them. Two Electoral Registration Office (ERO) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AERO) for committing “grave lapses” and “failing to perform their duties”, violating the policy of data security while sharing their login credentials of the ER database to unauthorised persons. Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant was directed to start departmental proceedings against the officials.

A senior official from ECI, New Delhi, told ET that they have not received any response from Pant. ECI is considering possible options in this regard.

Banerjee has urged new voters to enrol their names and told existing voters not to get intimidated and called SIR “a conspiracy of the double-engine government”.

Meanwhile, a BJP delegation, led by Rajya Sabha MP and BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya met ECI officials on Thursday to express their concern over comments made by Mamata Banerjee against the poll panel.

“An administrative head of the state is openly challenging a constitutional body like the Election Commission of India. We have expressed our concern over this matter during the meeting,” Bhattacharya said.

“Our agenda is clear—we want electoral rolls which is clean and free from Jihadis, Rohingyas, dead voters and those who have kept EPIC cards in dual locations. We expect people will be able to cast their votes in a free and fair manner,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.