Besides these killings, a staggering 1,143 documented complaints of physical and mental harm against Bengali speaking migrants have also been reported. The harassment includes illegal or irregular detentions by the police authorities and labourers threatened or brutalised. This Bengali newspaper has documented these here.

As far back as September 2025, Citizens for Justice and Peace, had submitted a comprehensive complaint to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), highlighting what it described as an “alarming and coordinated escalation of hate speech” across India. The complaint documents how Bengali-origin Muslims, many of whom are lawful Indian citizens, are being systematically vilified as “Bangladeshis” and “ghuspaithiye” (infiltrators) in election rallies, public protests, and online campaigns. The details of CJP’s submissions to the NCM Chairperson may be read here.

In this complaint, the notorious chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma’s hate speeches, the speeches by Situ Barua of Jatiya Sangrami Sena and Milan Buragohain of All Tai Ahom Students’ Union, both accused of stopping buses and threatening Muslim labourers to “vacate Upper Assam,” that by Bir Lachit Sen, whose followers reportedly conducted door-to-door “document checks” and forced evictions were included.

Besides there were other such targeted speeches made in Bihar, Delhi and Maharashtra. Maharashtra that has seen four such murders happening has both in the state and local bodies now got the BJP firmly in the saddle of power. Only last week, the newly sworn in Mayor of Mumbai (sworn in close to a month after the election results) vowed “to crackdown on hawkers in the city and ordered birth certificate checks” as part of a “crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi nationals living in the city,” reported India Today.

Related:

Under Suspicion: Bengali Migrant workers face mass detentions, fear, and statelessness in Gurugram crackdown

Under Siege for Speaking Bengali: Detentions, deportations and a rising pushback against the targeting of Bengali migrant workers across India

Bengali Migrant Workers Detained in Odisha: Calcutta High Court demands answers, seeks coordination between states

The post 12 Bengali migrant workers murdered in 6 states, Maharashtra tops the crime list appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Two men, identified as Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar, both migrant workers hailing from Uttar Pradesh were gravely injured in a grenade attack in Shopian. They succumbed to their injuries in hospital. According to the Kashmir Zone Police, the attacker has been taken into custody.

Hybrid #terrorist of proscribed #terror outfit LeT Imran Bashir Ganie of Harmen #Shopian who lobbed grenade #arrested by Shopian police. Further #investigation and raids are going on: ADGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice https://t.co/nP8xixR8GG

— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) October 17, 2022

The attacker has been identified as Bashir Ganie of the Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist organization that has been intermittently active in the Valley for decades. This is the third straight attack in Shopian where previously Puran Krishan Bhat was shot dead last Saturday and two brothers, Sunil Kumar Bhat and Pertimeber Nath Bhat were attacked in August. Sunil Kumar Bhat did not survive the attack.

Migrant workers, Kashmiri Pandits and members of the minority Hindu community have been constantly in the crosshairs of terrorists in Kashmir, with a spate of killings taking place here since October 2021.

The first migrant worker to be targeted was Virendar Paswan, who hailed from Bhagalpur in Bihar and worked as street food vendor. He was killed on October 5, 2021. In June, terrorists shot at two migrant labourers from Bihar – Dilkhush Kumar and Guri, who were working as brick kiln labourers in Magraypora in Chadoora. While Guri survived, Dilkhush died. In August 2022, Mohammed Amrez became the fourth migrant worker from Bihar to be killed by suspected terrorists. The labourer hailed from Madhepura. On September 2, a labourer identified as Muneerul Islam, who is said to hail from West Bengal, was injured when suspected terrorists opened fire upon him in the Ugergund Newa area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama area.

Meanwhile, non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus remain in the crosshairs of terrorists. The Kashmiri Pandit community has had a turbulent past, with thousands forced to leave their homes in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Pakistan-backed militants in the region. However, even today over 800 non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit families still live in the Valley, mostly in refugee camps.

On October 5, 2021, Makhan Lal Bindroo, a well-known Kashmiri Pandit businessman who ran two medical stores in Srinagar including one started by his family in 1947, was shot dead by suspected militants. Others killed include Rahul Bhat, who worked at the revenue department in Budgam as a PM Package employee, Rajni Bala and Supinder Kaur, both school teachers. In August 2022, suspected terrorists shot at two brothers in Shopian. While Sunil Kumar Bhat died after suspected militants opened fire in an apple orchard in Chotipora village, Pertimber Nath Bhat survived. On October 15, Puran Krishan Bhat was shot dead by terrorists while he was on way to orchard in Chowdari Gund Shopian.

Related:

Protests spiral after brute killing of Kashmiri Pandit farmer: Kashmir

One killed in attack on Kashmiri Pandits in Shopian

Another migrant worker killed in Kashmir!

14 Kashmiri Pandits, Hindus killed in Kashmir Valley after Article 370 removed: MHA

Kashmiri TV artiste Amreen Bhat killed in cold blood

Kashmir: Migrant labourer shot dead by militants in Budgam

Killing three civilians, terrorists send a bloody message across Jammu and Kashmir

The post Two more migrant workers killed in Kashmir appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It is no secret that the lockdown announced in the wake of the Coronavirus in India has had a disproportionately larger impact on the lives and livelihoods of migrant workers. Facing the prospect of starvation and homelessness many of them decided to walk back home.  Many of those walking home, passed away on the road itself. From minors to adults, scores of migrants died from exhaustion, hunger, the cold and accidents. The death toll keeps increasing everyday, even as various state governments, allegedly at the behest of powerful industrialists and builders, scramble to find new ways to prevent migrants from leaving the state to prevent a labour exodus. 

But in a shocking incident, that should shake every right thinkking person’s conscience,16 such migrant workers crushed to death under a goods train in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region. The workers were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna, 157 kms apart, to board a “Shramik Special” train to return to Madhya Pradesh. They were sleeping on the railway track after being exhausted from covering such a long distance thinking that they would be safe as trains were not running, when the mishap occurred between the Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded division. While 14 of them died immediately, 2 of them succumbed to their injuries later. 

In wake of this senseless and completely avoidable tragedy, civil society and the Opposition have come down heavily on the Centre for being lackadaisical in ensuring the safe return of migrants back home, citing that had the Central government had the foresight to ensure that the coronavirus would impact migrants the way it did and had it made arrangements right at the start of the lockdown, this unfortunate event would have been avoided.

In a statement the CPI (M) has unequivocally blamed the Central government for the tragedy. The CPI (M) Maharashtra state committee said that it deeply condoles the death of these migrant workers and shares the great pain of all their families in Madhya Pradesh. The statement said, “The CPI (M) Maharashtra state committee holds the BJP central government led by Narendra Modi to be squarely responsible for this terrible tragedy. It is a reflection on the extreme insensitivity, callousness and moral bankruptcy of this BJP regime.”

Pointing to the despicable indifference of the Centre towards the migrants, the statement said, “The way the lockdown was imposed on March 24 giving barely a four hour notice, no steps taken for the next five weeks to reach the distressed migrants to their homes, refusal to give them food and bare essentials to eke out a living, the heart-rending scenes of thousands of migrant women, children and men walking hundreds of kilometers to their homes all over the country in the scorching sun without food, water or shelter, over-charging these penniless migrants for their train and bus travel – all this points to the criminal callousness of the Modi regime. It has also exhibited its utter contempt for the working people who actually produce the wealth of our country.”  

Also mentioning the reaction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to the incident – the tweets they put out, CPI (M) mentioned that both leaders did nothing beyond “tweeting empty words”. It also said that in contrast to the Centre, the Maharashtra government has declared help of Rs. 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and is treating the injured.

However, this cannot be enough the party statement reads. It demands that the Centre must completely rehabilitate all the hapless families of the deceased migrant workers.

Related:

Sixteen migrants killed after cargo train runs over them; railways orders probe

The post 16 migrant workers run over by train in Aurangabad, Opposition demands answers appeared first on SabrangIndia.