BENGALURU: As Bengali migrant workers in Gurugram are being detained or fleeing out of fear, the atmosphere in Whitefield – an area known for its Bengali migrant settlements – grows more tense by the day. With events happening near the nation’s capital being made public over the internet, Bengali migrants in Bengaluru – many of whose friends or relatives had been working in Gurugram – find little hope in carrying on with their livelihoods. The situation is worsened by sporadic, yet similar incidents. From reports of alleged extortion by the police to being accused of being Bangladeshi, the Bengali tongue has slowly become a signpost of persecution.
“It is like fighting crocodiles while standing knee-deep in water,” said Rehman (name changed), a native of Murshidabad in West Bengal who moved to the city more than a decade ago, and finds himself in a different land, struggling against forces that are far from native. Rehman, who runs a small mobile repair and photocopy shop and ferries schoolchildren, was allegedly threatened by Varthur Police Station officers, when he refused to pay the monthly bribe collected from every petty shop in the neighbourhood; the amount ranges from ₹300 to ₹3,000-4,000.
Since then, officers have allegedly barged into his home around midnight, taken his younger brother (aged 21), an engineering student, on charges of falsification of police verification documents, and threatened to falsely implicate him in other cases if the family did not pay them ₹75,000. Rehman, who fears for his family’s livelihood in Bengaluru, has allegedly had to part with his hard-earned money to release his brother. He filed a complaint with the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) on Tuesday.
Rehman’s case, albeit one of the most recent in the city, is far from being the only one. Mabul Sheikh, a native of Palsunda, a village in the Nadia district of West Bengal, had his brush with the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in January 2025. One fine day, the CCB allegedly seized his phone and passport, and when he visited their office, he was accused of being Bangladeshi because of his tongue. When his passport and Aadhaar card were not deemed enough proof of his nationality, a signed letter from his local panchayat was the only thing that could absolve him.
The allegation of being Bangladeshi comes as a dogwhistle against a demographic that largely falls into the cross-section of being Bengali and being Muslim. Like Mabul’s case, Kohinoor and Ainoor, two sisters from South 24 Parganas in West Bengal, were stopped from entering an apartment complex, where they worked as domestic workers. Both were accused of being Bangladeshi by the building security personnel, and their documents were flung away. Ainoor was allegedly taken to Varthur Police Station and was accused of being Bangladeshi, and like Mabul, only a signed letter from her local panchayat stood between her and unfair detention. “We live like foreign dogs in this land,” was all Kohinoor could mumble as commentary on the situation.