‘Are You a Bangladeshi?’: Muslim Truck Driver Harassed at Toll Plaza in West Bengal

An incident at the Shibpur Toll Plaza on National Highway 12 in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, has sparked widespread public concern and severe criticism regarding linguistic discrimination and harassment. The controversy erupted after a video went viral on social media depicting a Muslim truck driver being taunted and racially abused as a Bangladeshi simply for requesting conversation in his native Bengali language.

The victim, Rafikul Khan, a resident of Nadia district’s Thanarpara, was transporting 16 tons of bananas from Karimpur to Siliguri. Around 9:00 PM on Monday, October 26, he arrived at the toll plaza where a dispute began when the employee insisted on speaking Hindi. When Mr. Khan explained that he did not understand Hindi and politely requested communication in Bengali, the employee aggressively questioned his Indian citizenship and subjected him to verbal abuse.

In the widely circulated video footage, the toll worker can be heard interrogating Khan with discriminatory remarks, asking if he was an outsider or a Bangladeshi who required a conversation in Bengali. Although Mr. Khan strongly protested the mistreatment at the scene, local police officials confirmed that no formal written complaint has been filed with the administration thus far, though an investigation would commence if a formal grievance is submitted.

The incident has drawn sharp condemnation from intellectuals and civil society members, who emphasize that Bengali is enshrined in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and serves as the mother tongue for millions of Indian citizens. Critics argue that automatically branding Bengali speakers as foreign nationals demonstrates severe narrow-mindedness, ethnic prejudice, and a direct threat to communal harmony and national unity.

Weighing in on the controversy, teacher Alamgir Hossain told The Observer Post that linguistic prejudice disrupts societal harmony, noting that Bengali-speaking citizens reside extensively across West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam just as Punjabi speakers live across borders. Concurring with these concerns, Advocate Masumn Rahman strongly condemned the malicious behavior, urging conscious citizens everywhere to unite and protest against such targeted regional and ethnic harassment.