‘Situation normal’: Bihar team in Tamil Nadu amid targeted attack rumours

PATNA: A high-level team of senior officials from Bihar on Sunday interacted with officials in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur district, besides representatives of migrant workers, labour contractors, and non-government organisations to verify allegations of targeted violence against migrant labourers in the southern state.

“The governments of Tamil Nadu and Bihar are making all efforts to ensure the safety of migrant workers here,” Bihar rural development secretary Balamurugan D told reporters in Tiruppur.

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The development came a day after Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin rejected allegations of targeted violence on migrant workers in the state, warning of swift action against rumour-mongers spreading panic. “All workers are our workers who help Tamil Nadu’s growth and nothing will happen to impact them, I have assured him,” Stalin, who spoke to Nitish Kumar over phone, said in a statement on Saturday.

The senior Bihar official said the state team, which reached Tamil Nadu on Sunday, was interacting with migrant workers and labour contractors. He advised people not to pay heed to rumours and fake videos. “We are satisfied by the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government and the district administration in ensuring the safety of the workers to allay the fears from their minds,” Balamurugan added.

In Bihar, images of workers returning from southern states for Holi were being circulated with misleading message of mass exodus. In the past few days, purported videos of workers being beaten circulated on social media were found to be fake and from other states.

ALSO READ: Stalin speaks to Nitish Kumar amid 'fake news' of attacks on Biharis in Tamil Nadu

Meanwhile, a team of government officials from Jharkhand, too, did not find any evidence of alleged violence. “Our teams are there in TN and are meeting with different sections of migrant workers from Jharkhand,” said Vinay Kumar Choubey, secretary to the Jharkhand CM.

The high-level team from Bihar — comprising Balamurugan, inspector general of police (CID) P Kannan, special labour commissioner Alok Kumar and superintendent of police (SP), special task force, Santosh Kumar — was rushed to Chennai after the issue rocked the Bihar assembly last week, with leaders of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalling the proceedings of the ongoing budget session alleging Bihari workers were being targeted for speaking Hindi in Tamil Nadu.

Another official from the high-level team said the three purported videos being circulated on social media alleging violence on workers were not of labourers from Bihar. “The situation is normal. A report on our visit would be submitted to the state government soon,” the second official added.

On Monday, the team will visit Coimbatore and hold meetings with concerned officials and migrant workers from Bihar.

Bihar chief secretary Amir Subhani said the officials’ team was visiting different parts of Tamil Nadu from where allegations of violence surfaced. “I have not received any input from the team. Let them come, we will share the findings,” Subhani said.

On Saturday, the Tamil Nadu police booked a BJP spokesperson from Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Umrao, for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and language under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Umrao on Friday shared a photo of Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Stalin in a tweet, that claimed: “…12 migrants from Bihar were hung to death in Tamil Nadu for speaking in Hindi.”

Umrao later deleted his tweet.

The editor of a local new portal was also booked for spreading enmity, TN police officers said. The online portal had filed a story sharing purported videos, claiming them to be of Bihar workers being targeted in Tamil Nadu. However, a fact-checking team said the videos were old and not from Tamil Nadu.

Authorities in the southern state also released helpline numbers for migrant workers to reach out in case of any emergency.

Reacting to allegations by Bihar BJP leaders, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday said the state government was serious in this matter and that is why a team has been sent to Tamil Nadu. “Both Bihar and Tamil Nadu governments will not tolerate any kind of attack on migrant workers,” said Yadav, who was in Chennai last week to attend Stalin’s 70th birthday.

However, senior BJP leaders in Bihar targeted chief minister Nitish Kumar for “failing to protect migrant workers” as they continued their allegations of attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Tamil Nadu.

Leader of opposition in Bihar assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha named a migrant worker as he claimed three such workers from the state were killed in Tamil Nadu. “…The police shall investigate the deaths of these people,” the senior BJP leader said. There was no confirmation of Sinha’s claims by police or authorities in either state.