Amidst the ongoing crackdown on suspected foreign nationals from Bangladesh, hundreds of Bengali and Assamese migrants have been detained and kept in what the Gurugram police call “holding centres”.
Alishan Jafri and Shruti Sharma
Gurugram: On July 19, Hafizur Sheikh (41) had finished his shift as a cleaner outside a liquor store in Gurugram when he was stopped by policemen and interrogated. Sheikh answered all their questions, but then he was asked to produce his identity cards to “verify his citizenship”.
Despite having an Aadhaar card, a voter ID card and other identity documents on his phone, he was told that this was not enough. “The police wanted a physical copy,” his brother Amanur told The Wire. “My brother told them that he could bring the physical copy or they could accompany him to check the documents personally, but they did not listen and he was detained.”
Sheikh, from West Bengal’s Nadia district, is among hundreds of mostly Muslim migrants detained by the police in Haryana’s Gurugram. These men usually work as cleaners in Gurugram’s MNCs, ragpickers and public sanitation workers, or in some instances as domestic workers, and delivery agents.
On July 19, police detained at least 74 migrant workers – 11 from West Bengal and 63 from Assam – who they suspect are undocumented foreign nationals from neighbouring Bangladesh. They were taken to what the police are calling “holding centres” – that rights activists say are akin to detention camps. “This camp [in Sector 10, Gurugram],” said advocate and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) member Supanta Sinha, “has over 200 detainees.”
On July 21, a two-member CPI-ML team visited one of the makeshift detention camps in Gurugram’s Sector 10 after they received “news of detention of scores of migrant workers purportedly for ascertaining their citizenship.” Sinha was a part of that team. He alleged that the workers were being forced to live under inhumane conditions. A CPI-ML statement alleged that “similar exercises have been conducted in other parts of Gurgaon as well, with some zones housing over 200 detainees currently”.
These detentions appear to follow a Ministry of Home Affairs directive, said Sinha. They come in the backdrop of a nationwide drive against alleged undocumented foreign nationals. However, multiple reports show that Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants from West Bengal and Assam are facing the brunt of these drives.
At a recent protest in Kolkata led by Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress protested various attacks against migrants in Delhi (Jai Hind colony), NCR and Odisha. Banerjee dared the BJP to put her in a detention facility. She has also condemned these attacks on social media. “The second most spoken language in the country, Bangla, is also the second most spoken language of Assam,” she wrote.
“To threaten citizens, who want to coexist peacefully respecting all languages and religions, with persecution for upholding their own mother tongue is discriminatory and unconstitutional…”
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and head of the Bengali Migrant Board, Samirul Islam, accused the BJP of inciting anti-Bengali sentiments. TMC MP Mahua Moitra termed these detentions as illegal abductions.
‘Not detained, just withheld’
When asked about the charges under which the migrants are being detained, Gurugram Police PRO Sandeep Kumar said, “They are not detained. As per the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), certain holding centres have been created, and suspected Bangladeshis are being kept there. All basic necessities, including medical facilities, are being provided to them at the centres.”
In May, the Union government had directed states and union territories to identify, detain and deport undocumented immigrants across the country. Wion reported that the Centre gave states a 30-day deadline to verify documents of suspected undocumented immigrants and to initiate deportation proceedings against those who are unable to prove their citizenship. The MHA has also instructed states to establish district-level detention centres to hold such individuals. The ongoing crackdown appears to be in sync with this directive from the Union government….
https://thewire.in/rights/gurugram-holding-centres-detention-bengali-muslims
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