TMC MP: Matuas in Pune called ‘Bangladeshi', held
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The AIMM ID card bears the signature of junior Union minister and Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur, who heads the Mahasangha.
Citizenship has been a restive issue among Matuas, prompting AIMM to issue the identity cards.
Islam, also chairperson of the Bengal Migrant Workers' Welfare Board, said in a post on X: "Members of the Matua community are experiencing harassment at the hands of the police in BJP-governed Maharashtra."
Islam said Pune Police on July 2 arrested Arush Adhikari, a Matua and a resident of Habra in North 24 Parganas. The next day, on July 3, police arrested Adhikari's wife Priyanka along with their six-month-old baby, as well as his sister Banita Biswas along with her two children. The cops also arrested Bongaon residents Shib Biswas and Bibek Goswami.
I
n all, five persons and three minors were now in custody, said Islam.
The Adhikari family, which migrated to Pune for work, was allegedly detained and labelled "Bangladeshi" despite possessing all valid documents and the AIMM card bearing Thakur's signature, Islam claimed.
"Pune Police are not accepting the documents," he said, alleging that the BJP leadership was attempting to discredit Bengali-speaking migrant workers by associating them with Rohingya. This latest harassment of Bengalis comes after similar incidents in Odisha, Assam and Rajasthan, Islam claimed.
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"The divisive politics of BJP appears to be specifically targeting Bengali people. Contact has been established with the impacted family, who verified that Maharashtra police have taken Arush Adhikary and seven others, including underage children, in custody on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. BJP MP Shantanu Thakur is himself a member of the Matua community," Islam wrote on X.
Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP and Matua leader Mamata Bala Thakur criticised BJP for harassing people speaking Bengali while they had Matua Mahasabha cards signed by Thakur.
Calls to Thakur's mobile went unanswered.
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