Bihar team in Tamil Nadu today to probe claims of attacks on Bihari labourers

A four-member team from the Bihar government is visiting Tamil Nadu on Saturday over alleged 'attacks' on migrant labourers. The team will take stock of the situation and will submit a report to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The visit comes hours after Tamil Nadu Labour Welfare and Skill Development minister CV Ganesan denied there is any truth in the news on social media that labourers from north India were being attacked in parts of Tamil Nadu. 

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Tamil Nadu is known for peace, and appropriate action will be taken against those spreading such news, he said.

What is the matter?

A video of an incident of thrashing of people from Bihar in Tamil Nadu is going viral on social media. It is also being claimed that after the video of this incident went viral, the people of Bihar are in panic and wanted to return to their state. Local media reports have cited labourers pleading with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for security through videos. It is being claimed that the local people are angry with the labourers from Bihar and other Hindi-speaking states on the grounds that because of them employment opportunities for the latter are decreasing.

Despite assurances from Tamil Nadu, the Bihar government has dispatched a team of senior state government officials to the southern state to examine the allegations. In fact, Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha on Friday claimed that he had received a distress call from a migrant from his own constituency of Lakhisarai. 

Tamil Nadu DGP: Videos are fake

However, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu said that facts were twisted to make it appear as if migrant workers from Bihar are attacked in Tamil Nadu. In a video posted on Twitter, he said that the news of the attack on North Indian labourers in Tiruppur is just a rumour. The two videos, which are being circulated as attacks on North Indian labourers, are fake.

Separately, the Tamil Nadu police took to Twitter to say that certain media reports had incorrectly claimed that Hindi-speaking people from Bihar were being assaulted by people in Tamil Nadu. "The district and state administration are already abreast with such misleading social media posts, videos and Newspaper reports and taking necessary remedial measures," police said.

The Tamil Nadu Police has also issued helpline numbers for the migrant workers to sort out any issues faced by them. The numbers are 09498101300, 09498101320 and 0421-2203313.