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Traders say police dismissed identity documents and accused them of being foreigners for speaking Bengali

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Four Muslim traders from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district have been ordered to leave Odisha’s Nayagarh town within three days after being accused of being Bangladeshi or Rohingya migrants, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

The men, all from Sagarpara gram panchayat in Jalangi block, had been living in Nayagarh for years, selling mosquito nets, quilts and woollens from two-wheelers. On November 27, police officers visited their rented accommodation and accused them of residing illegally, one of the traders, Saheb Sekh, told the newspaper.

Sekh said he showed officers his Aadhaar and voter identity cards, but they remained unsatisfied and summoned the group and their landlord to the Odagaon police station. There, an officer allegedly instructed them to leave the town within three days. The traders said they were also accused of being Bangladeshis because they spoke Bengali.

Hello @spnayagarh S Susree IPS – Odagaon PS Odisha instructed 4 Bengali migrants, all bona fide Indian citizens with full paperwork to leave district. Pressurised Landlord to throw them out, threatened arrest. Inspite of @SPMurshidabad verifying workers.
This is illegal & in…

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) December 2, 2025

Another trader, Abdus Salam, claimed members of a Hindutva organisation were present at the station and harassed them. Police also collected signed copies of their identity documents. It remains unclear whether the men have returned to Murshidabad.

The incident comes amid rising allegations by West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress that Bengali-speaking workers, particularly Muslims, are facing discrimination in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states on suspicion of being foreigners.

Mahua Moitra, West Bengal MP, alleged that officers rejected their Aadhaar and voter IDs, pressured their landlord to evict them, and threatened arrest despite verification by Murshidabad Police. She condemned the move as illegal and unconstitutional and said she would take legal action.

Following an April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, police in several BJP-led states have detained Bengali-speaking workers and demanded proof of Indian citizenship. Some have reportedly been pushed into Bangladesh after failing to produce documents, though a few were later returned after being verified as Indian nationals.

Odisha has seen multiple cases of harassment of Bengali Muslims in recent months. On November 24, a winterwear seller from Murshidabad was allegedly beaten by a mob in Ganjam after refusing to chant a Hindu religious slogan. In July, hundreds of Bengali workers in Jharsuguda were detained on similar suspicions before most were released.