A churn in West Bengal politics

HEFor the last few months, immigrant workers from Western Bengal have been detained throughout India and wanted to provide evidence of their citizenship. Thousands of immigrant workers were detained by Odisha and Chhattisgar in the East to Maharashtra and Gujarat in the West and Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan in the North, sometimes by hundreds and days of security institutions. A few of them were pushed to Bangladesh. These findings not only caused physical and emotional trauma to immigrant workers, but also broke their business cycles and forced many of them to return to Western Bengal.

The targeting of immigrant workers from the state created a chaos in Western Bengal politics. For the ruling Trinamool Congress, the situation of the workers came as an opportunity to revive the debate about Bengaline language and identity. Western Bengal Prime Minister Mamata Bannerler said that immigrant workers were targeted because they spoke in Bengalial language in states governed by BJP, and that this was an insult to Bengalial identity. The Trinamool leadership began to create a campaign for the 2026 Assembly elections, following a scenario similar to what they have successfully watched in the 2021 Assembly elections.

BJP argues that the exercise in the states governed by BJP aims to define and abolish “illegal” immigrants from Bangladesh, not to target the immigrant workers from Western Bengal. The Western Bengal Unit of BJP, which promises the restoration of a “Hindu homeland” for Bengalis, believes that most of the immigrant workers will not harm the party’s political expectations. BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari also said, “Almost a Crore Rohingya immigrants, Bangladesh voters, deceased voters, recurrent entrances and false voters”, Batı Bengal’s voters list, so BJP demanded a special intensive revision drill in West Bengal.

Some political observers think that the detention and harassment of the Bengali -speaking immigrants are open to Trinamool leadership, which can easily paint BJP as a party against Bengalial Language and identity. As a result, BJP has no answer why many immigrant workers from the state have been detained and harassed. Although the majority of the immigrant workers facing harassment, Matuas, a community that greatly supports BJP and promised citizenship under the 2019 Citizen Amendment Law, is also detained, arrested and has to provide evidence of citizenship.

It is a complex phenomenon that includes migration, economy, history and geography. A report on internal migration in India, published by Niti Aayog in December 2024, estimated the migration of inter -states based on train tickets sold. He used the 2011 census as a base. In the report titled ‘400 million Dreams’, he noted that not only the migration from the West Bengal, but also internal migration.

If Bengaline -speaking immigrants continue to be harassed throughout India and are forced to return to the state, not only put pressure on the Western Bengal economy, but also lead to social tensions. The fact that the natural economic cycle of millions of migratory workers was detained on suspicion of being Bangladesh may have serious effects on the economic and social views of the West Bengal.

Moreover, since it has a common history and geography of the state and its close cultural and linguistic ties with Bangladesh, it is difficult to describe a Bangladesh national among benglays. Poor immigrant workers are detained only because they speak a certain language. This is not only a violation of the necessary process, but also a exercise in vain. Instead, efforts should be made to strengthen the surveillance of the border and to strengthen the fence of Hundreds of kilometers of India with Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, immigrant workers returning to Western Bengal have no choice but to seek opportunities in other states. In the Western Bengal, without any compensation from the government, workers will naturally lead the next train to a relatively safer destination. However, this time, they can travel with more identity documents so that they are not harassed on suspicion of Bangladesh.