WB Cong leader flags racial profiling of Bengalis by Bengaluru cops, cautions DK Shivakumar

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Former West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urging him to direct the police to “halt any kind of arbitrary profiling of Bengali-speaking Indian citizens” amid attempts to identify foreign nationals /Bangladeshis.

The Bengaluru police launched “Operation Mukta” last week aimed at identifying suspected foreign nationals across the city. 

According to activists nearly 900 people were picked up by the police on August 8 and 9 on suspicion of being undocumented Bangladeshi citizens living in Bengaluru. Entire families were picked up in some instances from around 7.30 am on August 8, and kept waiting for hours. 

Eventually, most of them were released by the police. It is unclear what happened to the rest of the people who were picked up. 

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a former MP from West Bengal and currently the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, urged in his letter dated August 13, that the CM issue “strict directives” to the state police to “halt any kind of arbitrary profiling of Bengali-speaking Indian citizens and ensure that due process is strictly adhered to during any verification process”. 

He expressed concern over the tactics used by the Bengaluru police to identify foreign or Bangladeshi nationals. He said that a large number of Bengali migrants were working in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka. 

“The fact that the physical appearance and language of these migrant workers is similar to that of Bangladeshis makes them vulnerable to ‘mistaken identity’ and are, therefore, often subjected to unwarranted harassment and excesses.”

He said that many Bengalis, who mostly hailed from Murshidabad district, were picked up by the police from Siddapura in Whitefield, despite possessing valid Indian identity and citizenship documents. 

While noting that the state and the police had the “right and duty” to verify identities and “root out illegal immigrants”, he said, “you will agree that it is crucial to ensure that such actions do not cross into intimidation and harassment of bonafide Indian citizens on account of their language or religious identity.”