Migrant workers being tortured for speaking Bengali in BJP-ruled states, alleges Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (January 16, 2026) alleged that migrant labourers were being tortured for speaking Bengali in BJP-ruled States.

Ms. Banerjee, who headed for north Bengal to attend administrative programmes, accused the BJP of “planning to incite riots in the state”, as “the party realised that it would not be able to win the 2026 assembly elections”.

Referring to a protest in Murshidabad’s Beldanga over attacks on migrant workers outside West Bengal, she said the anger of the minority community was “legitimate”.

The protest stemmed from repeated incidents of violence against migrant workers, she said.

“Migrant labourers from Bengal are being tortured only in BJP-ruled states. We stand by their families,” she claimed.

Locals in Murshidabad blocked National Highway 12 and burnt tyres on Friday (January 16) to protest against the alleged attacks on migrant workers from the district in other States, disrupting vehicular movement on the thoroughfare, police said.

The demonstrators alleged that migrants from the district have been facing atrocities in other States for speaking Bengali.

The Beldanga protest erupted after news spread about the death of a Murshidabad native who had migrated to Jharkhand for work, an officer said.

The Chief Minister also hit out at the Election Commission for introducing changes in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal, claiming that “around 100 people had lost their lives due to anxiety” related to the voter list revision exercise.

“Protect dignity, impartiality of your chair, only then people will respect you,” Ms. Banerjee told the chief election commissioner, amid the SIR controversy.