Rajya Sabha MP and Chairman of Migrant Workers Welfare Board Samirul Islam on Saturday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of fostering anti-Bengali discrimination in Noida, alleging that authorities have even banned the sale and consumption of fish, a staple of Bengali cuisine.
“After Gurugram in Haryana, it is now Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The place has changed, but the scene remains the same,” Islam said in a post on X, claiming that fear has gripped the Bengali-speaking community in the city.
The Trinamool Congress leader said residents have been targeted over their language and cultural practices, with one woman reportedly telling the leader that Bengalis are treated “not as human beings, but like dogs.”
Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party government, Islam questioned why people must “suffer such cruelty just for speaking in Bengali”.
Before visiting Noida, Islam visited Gurugram and met the remaining Bengali migrant workers amidst widespread crackdown against them.
“They have been living in these settlements for 20–25 years. Today, the BJP has created such a strange atmosphere that merely speaking Bengali leads ordinary people to label them as Bangladeshis. This anti-Bengali stance of the BJP has created a peculiar division among people here,” he said in a post on X.
“I had visited most of the Bengali settlements in Gurugram, Haryana. I closely observed the situation and spoke with those residents of our Bengal. From all the settlements, most Bengali migrant workers have returned to our West Bengal. Those who stayed back for work and for their families are now living in fear and anxiety—afraid simply because they speak in Bengali.”
Between May and July 2025, there was a sharp rise in the detention and forced removal of Bengali-speaking Muslims in several Indian states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Odisha, Assam, etc, according to data compiled by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR). Their data shows these detentions often happened without a proper legal process. In some cases, people were even sent across the Bangladesh border by force. Many were denied legal help, and their families had no way to contact or locate them.
