Bengal: Abhishek attacks BJP over migrant worker arrests, vows full sweep in north, south Dinajpur

Itahar (WB), Jan 7 (PTI) Mounting a frontal attack on the BJP from its bastion in North Bengal, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday accused Union minister Sukanta Majumdar of abandoning migrant workers from his Balurghat constituency jailed in Maharashtra and set a 15-0 electoral target for two Dinajpurs in assembly polls.

Abhishek, who met two migrant workers recently released from a Maharashtra jail after being detained on suspicion of being Bangladeshis, said the episode exposed what he called the BJP's "politics of fear" and its indifference towards Bengali-speaking workers outside the state.

Standing with the two labourers, Asit Sarkar and Gautam Barman, at Lakshmipur village under Tapan assembly segment in South Dinajpur, Abhishek said they had spent seven months in jail "for no crime except speaking Bengali".

"When we came to know, we burnt the midnight oil and brought them back," he said, adding pointedly, "Maharashtra has a BJP government. But Sukanta Majumdar did nothing." Gautam, a resident of Gangarampur and a former BJP booth president in 2019, and Asit said they had worked in Maharashtra for nearly two decades but were arrested allegedly because they spoke Bengali.

Both publicly credited Abhishek and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for their release.

Their families said they had approached Majumdar, the local MP and Union minister, but received no concrete help.

Locals, who accompanied Abhishek during the visit, said he too had repeatedly raised the issue with the MP but was told only that the matter was being "looked into".

Seizing on the issue, Abhishek sharpened his attack.

"If speaking Bengali makes someone Bangladeshi, then Sukanta Majumdar also speaks Bengali," he said. "Why was he not jailed? Where is his accountability towards the people who elected him?" He derided Majumdar as a "stop-gap minister" and a "stopage minister", accusing BJP MPs of limiting their contribution to inaugurating railway stoppages.

"Did people vote for you to walk on ramps and announce train stoppages? Show your report card. What development have you brought to the district?" he asked.

The TMC leader also alleged that the two workers were asked to pay Rs 1.5 lakh each for their release, claiming local BJP leaders failed to intervene despite repeated appeals.

From the same platform, Abhishek renewed his attack on the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging harassment of voters.

He claimed 65 people had died in the past two months during the process and asked the BJP how many of those whose names were deleted were "Bangladeshis or Rohingyas".

Later in the day, Abhishek led a roadshow at Itahar, climbing atop his vehicle, waving at crowds and showering flower petals as he called upon party workers to "uproot the BJP from every booth".

"Just defeating the BJP is not enough. They must be eliminated booth by booth," he said, setting an ambitious target of winning all 15 assembly seats across North and South Dinajpur in 2026.

In the 2021 assembly elections, the TMC had won seven of nine seats in North Dinajpur and three of six in South Dinajpur, with the BJP securing Hemtabad and Kaliaganj in the north, and Balurghat, Tapan and Gangarampur in the south.

"This soil will lay the foundation of our fourth consecutive victory in 2026," Abhishek said. "This fight is not just to win power, but to sweep away the demons." He also urged migrant workers not to travel to Maharashtra for work, promising employment within Bengal.

"It is unacceptable that people have to leave the state and face such humiliation," he said.

At an event later in Asansol, Majumdar hit back, alleging that Abhishek's name figures in coal and cattle smuggling cases, and challenged him to name a single corruption charge against him.

The 294-member West Bengal Assembly is due to go to polls in April-May. PTI PNT MNB