Exiled by a Tongue: A Bengali Laborer’s Ordeal in India’s Linguistic Fault Lines

January 12,2026

Balurghat Couple Returns Home Penniless After Linguistic Abuse

Kamal Kumar Biswas                     

Senior Correspondent 

Her name is Bharati, a word that itself evokes India. Yet it was in another Indian state that Bharati Lohar says she and her husband were reduced to fear, hunger and flight — not for their work, but for the language they spoke.

As a fierce political debate rages in West Bengal over allegations of harassment faced by Bengali-speaking migrant workers in other states, the account emerging from this quiet border town has given the controversy a harrowing human face. Mrs. Lohar and her husband, Sanatan Lohar, residents of Chakbhirgu village under the Balurghat block, allege that during their six-month stint in Secunderabad they were subjected to relentless abuse solely because they spoke Bengali.

The couple had traveled south in search of livelihood, taking up domestic cleaning jobs and occasional construction work. Their young son accompanied them. They say they have worked across India — from Kashmir to Kanyakumari — without incident. But in Secunderabad, they claim, language became a trigger for humiliation and cruelty.According to their account, the mere sound of Bengali invited verbal abuse. Missing a day of work meant food was withheld. Illness brought no respite. When their son fell sick and they asked for medical help, they were allegedly told, “Let him die.” Ms. Lohar also accused their employers of making obscene remarks toward women.

Despite months of labor, the couple say they were never paid in full. Appeals for wages went unanswered. When the situation became unbearable, they fled in desperation, abandoning utensils, clothes and all their belongings. They had no money even for train tickets, they said, and returned home only after pleading with a ticket examiner. For nearly two days, they claim, they traveled without food.Their suffering did not end there. On returning home, they found their tin-roofed house partially looted. Now, they survive by borrowing utensils from neighbors, cooking meager meals and relying on local assistance.

The story reached local officials, prompting visits from district and panchayat leaders . They provided emergency relief — ration tokens, clothing, sarees and tarpaulin sheets. The Dakshin Dinajpur Zila Parishad Sabhadhipati, Chintamani Biha, said the matter would be escalated to higher authorities, calling it alarming that Indian citizens could not speak their mother tongue freely while working within the country.

Mrs. Lohar said she had already exhausted funds from the state’s welfare scheme, Lakshmir Bhandar, to send her son home for treatment before she and her husband escaped. Mr. Lohar, visibly shaken, said he would never migrate again. “I will eat plain rice and stay home,” he said. “I won’t go outside for work.”

The incident has ignited sharp political sparring. Budhrai Tudu, the local legislator (MLA)from Tapan, said he would visit the family to verify the claims, alleging that the state government was manufacturing unrest. “We need to see whether this is genuine or politically constructed,” he said.Local representatives, however, stood by the family. Mithun Majumdar, a panchayat samiti member, said the couple’s ordeal raised urgent questions about migrant workers’ safety and linguistic rights. “They were abused for speaking Bengali. Even their wages were denied,” he said.

In a nation constitutionally committed to unity in diversity, the Lohars’ story underscores a darker undercurrent — one in which language, instead of binding citizens together, becomes a fault line that fractures lives.