KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) government plans to move a motion condemning the detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in various Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states during a three-day session of the West Bengal assembly commencing on September 1, ruling party MLAs said.
The MLAs said the government may also discuss the deletion of voter names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar since a similar exercise is likely to take place in Bengal in the run-up to the 2026 state polls.
“Whether a motion can be moved on the SIR issue is something to be decided in the coming days,” an MLA said, requesting anonymity.
Assembly speaker Biman Banerjee confirmed the dates. “The session will be held on September 1, 2 and 4 since September 3 is a state holiday. A motion on the atrocities faced by migrant workers from Bengal is likely to be moved,” Banerjee told reporters.
A motion on the attacks on Bengali migrants was likely to be moved during the session, Banerjee said, according to PTI.
A senior TMC MLA said that the state government would move a resolution condemning the detention of Bengali-speaking people in various states, especially those ruled by the BJP, on the allegation that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
“Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a year-long agitation to protect the honour of our mother tongue. People cannot be branded as infiltrators just because they speak Bengali. It is the seventh most-spoken language in the world. These migrant workers were locked up and beaten up even after they showed their Aadhaar and PAN cards,” the MLA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
“Several of the detainees were secretly deported to Bangladesh by the Border Security Force. Some of these people were brought back by the West Bengal police while the rest are still languishing in Bangladesh. The motion will mention these,” he added.
TMC chief whip Nirmal Ghosh said his party will register its protests on both issues.
“It is clear that an SIR is being planned in Bengal to delete millions of names, something we witnessed in Bihar,” said Ghosh.
The special session is likely to trigger heated debates in the 294-member assembly as the BJP, the state’s principal opposition force with 75 MLAs, has supported the detentions and the SIR.
BJP chief whip in the assembly Shankar Ghosh, said it was not a healthy trend. “We have seen time and again that the TMC government uses the assembly for its political interests instead of focusing on its obligations to the people. This is an unhealthy trend. Our parliamentary party will devise its strategy once we are informed about the session,” he said.
