Refuting allegations made by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini who accused his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee of compromising with the security of the country for vote bank politics, Trinamool Congress MP and chairperson of West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board Samirul Islam on Saturday said that a witch-hunt is going on against migrants in the name of “Bangladeshis”.

In a social media post, the Haryana Chief Minister said there is no place for Bangladeshis in the country, and the sympathy shown by the West Bengal Chief Minister towards those who are compromising national interests is not only unfortunate but against national interest.

“From day one, we have said that there is no issue if the administration takes action against genuine infiltrators. But in the name of a witch-hunt against ‘Bangladeshis’, BJP-ruled states — including yours — have been unlawfully detaining our brothers and sisters who are working there. We strongly protest against the atrocities being committed against Bengali-speaking Indian citizens, and it is unfortunate that people like you are trying to falsely blame us,” Mr. Islam said.

The Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP said it was unfortunate to see Mr. Saini criticising Ms. Banerjee in such an illogical manner — “especially when you yourself are responsible for the brutalisation of Bengali-speaking migrant workers from West Bengal by unlawfully harassing them”.

The MP further raised several questions to the Haryana Chief Minister such as whether it is illegal for someone to travel from one Indian State to another to work and if not, then why is the Haryana Police force harassing those who went to work from West Bengal. Mr. Islam also asked if Bengali is spoken only by Bangladeshis and has he ever heard the name of Rabindranath Tagore, who was a Bengali and composed the national anthem.

A few days ago, West Bengal CM Ms. Banerjee and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had engaged in a war of words on social media on the topic of migrant workers.

In another post, the chairperson of the State migrant welfare board added that hundreds of Bengali-speaking migrant workers working in different States have been unlawfully detained and harassed by BJP-ruled State governments like in Odisha, Maharashtra, and Delhi and many of them have even been deported to Bangladesh.

Mr. Islam said that he had asked a question about the number of migrants working in other States, which was not provided by the Union government.