Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday (January 4, 2026) met migrant workers from West Bengal in Odisha’s Sambalpur and expressed concern over “parallel policing” in some States where Bengali labourers were allegedly being asked by private persons to provide their identity proof, urging law enforcement agencies to stop the practice.
Mr. Chowdhury, a five-time former MP from Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, also assured the migrant workers that the Congress was with them.
“I met some Bengali migrant workers here and told them that Congress is with them. I also informed them that the matter has been taken up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Mr. Chowdhury told reporters.
He expressed concern over the killing of 30-year-old Jewel Rana, a Bengali-speaking migrant worker from Murshidabad’s Jangipur, in Sambalpur last month following an altercation over a ‘bidi’. It was also alleged that the assailants had asked Jewel Rana to show his Aadhaar card, suspecting him to be a Bangladeshi infiltrator, a charge denied by the local police.
“There is a parallel policing system in some States, as private persons are asking migrant workers to show their identity proof. This must be stopped, and the police should ensure that no one is harassed by the goons because of their suspicion that a migrant worker might be a Bangladeshi infiltrator,” Mr. Chowdhury said.
