4 Background: Bengali Migrants and Its Quest of Building a “Home”
Bengaluru has seen significant migration from eastern Indian states such as West Bengal, with many migrants choosing the city due to the hostile social environment in northern and western India, as well as the relatively higher wages offered in southern India (Chakraborty et al., 2022; Reja & Das, 2019). Unlike educated and high-income Bengali migrants who often bring their families, most lower-class migrant workers face conditions that prevent family relocation, with Bengaluru’s rag pickers being a critical exception (Chakraborty et al., 2022). Many of these migrants also move across different destinations, navigating uncertainty along the way (Ibid). Furthermore, West Bengal, with its long border with Bangladesh and shared Bengali ethnicity, hosts many Bangladeshi migrants, who, while not facing significant divisions locally, are often seen as infiltrators elsewhere in India, affecting mainly lower-class migrant lives (Shamshad, 2017). With the rise of Hindutva politics, undocumented Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants are increasingly seen as threats to national security, making life particularly difficult for Muslim migrants (Ramachandran, 1999). Notably, with the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act under the Modi regime, migrant workers, particularly those living in Bengaluru’s informal settlements, became highly vulnerable, often facing eviction without notice and facing power and water disconnections by authorities (Chandran, 2020). For example, in 2020 the Bengaluru Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) razed a labour settlement at Kariyammana Agrahara to the ground, with Bangla-speaking Muslims being labelled as Bangladeshis (Bhat, 2020).
5 Data and Methodology
This paper draws on qualitative field data collected in December 2023, which includes participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions conducted in various Bengali bastis in Whitefield and Electronic City, Bengaluru. In total, 13 participants took part in the in-depth interviews, including five worker-organizers and eight union members. The interviews were conducted at union offices and in Whitefield, one of the largest Bengali slums in Bengaluru, with one worker-organizer interviewed via telephone. Additionally, four focus group discussions were held, with each group consisting of 20 to 30 participants. Two of the groups consisted exclusively of young men; one group comprised only women; and the fourth was a mixed-gender group. To complement these primary data sources, we also analysed social media content, such as union Facebook pages and Facebook posts by union members, with their consent, to understand the chronology of events and track the unions’ routine activities.
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