Kolkata, Dec. 28 -- West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday condemned what she called "the brutal oppression and persecution" of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states. "We stand by those oppressed, terrified, and tortured migrant Bengali-speaking families, and we will provide all kinds of support to those families," Banerjee wrote on X. On Wednesday, three migrant workers from West Bengal's Murshidabad were thrashed at Sambalpur in Odisha. Two of them managed to escape while one, Juyel Rana, was beaten to death over suspicion of being a Bangladeshi as he spoke in Bengali. Police said that it was not a targeted attack but linked to a fight over a beedi. Banerjee called it extremely unfortunate that a young migrant worker was beaten to death in Sambalpur on December 24. "Migrant workers in Murshidabad are returning home terrified from Odisha. In this heartbreaking incident, we stand with the families, and our financial assistance to the family of the deceased will also reach them," she wrote. "In all these incidents in BJP-ruled states, our condemnation of the perpetrators and our promise of all kinds of help for the oppressed remain. Speaking the Bengali language cannot be a crime."P9...