Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP and Migrant Workers Welfare Board chairperson Samirul Islam has alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government is enabling hostility towards Bengalis in Noida, claiming even the sale and consumption of fish a Bengali staple has been prohibited in certain areas.
In a post on X on Saturday, Islam compared the situation to recent events in Gurugram, Haryana, where Bengali migrant settlements came under pressure earlier this year. “The location has changed, but the atmosphere is the same,” he wrote, adding that fear now permeates Noida’s Bengali-speaking community.
According to Islam, residents have faced harassment over their language and traditions, with one woman telling him that Bengalis are treated “not as human beings, but like dogs.” He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of cultivating an environment where speaking Bengali is enough for locals to label migrants as “Bangladeshis.”
Islam said most Bengali migrant workers in Gurugram have already returned to West Bengal following the clampdown, while those who remain live under constant anxiety. Many have been in these settlements for two decades or more, he added.
Between May and July 2025, there has been a sharp uptick in the detention and expulsion of Bengali-speaking Muslims across multiple states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Odisha, and Assam according to figures from the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR). The organisation alleges that these removals often bypassed due legal process, with some individuals forcibly pushed across the Bangladesh border. Families were frequently left without contact or information about the whereabouts of those detained, APCR said.
