Industry bodies in TN want CM Stalin to put out messages in Hindi to ease tension among migrant workforce

With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin assuring protection to migrant workers amid rumours of attacks on them, various industry bodies on Saturday here requested him to telecast messages in Hindi to allay fears of the labourers coming from the Hindi-speaking region to the state.

Federation of Coimbatore Industrial Association (FOCIA) said such a step was necessary since the workers have been misled that the state was unsafe for them as fake news about attacks on Hindi-speaking migrant labourers in Tamil Nadu have been unleashed on social media sites, which has triggered panic among the labourers' families back in Bihar.

Stalin warned against those spreading rumours and fake news and termed them as "anti-Indians".

Earlier in the day, the Tamil Nadu CM reassured his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar that all migrant workers are safe in the State and he asserted that swift action would be taken against rumour-mongers spreading panic.

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The administration and police in Tirupur and Coimbatore districts, where a high number of migrant workers are employed in the textile industries, issued statements of taking stringent action against those spreading rumours that the place was hostile for the workers.

Tirupur District Collector S Vineeth said there was a large presence of labourers in railway stations as they were heading to native places to celebrate Holi festival.

BJP All India Mahila Morcha president and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan expressed serious concern regarding workers reportedly leaving Tirupur over the issue.

The Constitution provides equal rights to all the citizens to work anywhere in the country and during her tour across the country after taking over as president, she found thousands of Tamils in other states and Union Territories including Andaman and Nicobar islands working there, Srinivasan said in a statement here.

Considering the seriousness of the problem, Chief Minister Stalin should take stringent action against persons spreading such rumours, and slap charges under the National Security Act against them if need be, the BJP leader added.

Meanwhile, two textile bodies said there was no discrimination between local workers and migrant workforce in terms of wages and both of them were treated equally by the industry.

In the last few weeks, a section of political outfits are making a hue and cry over the engagement of migrant workforce and demanding that the workers hailing from north India should not be permitted to work in Tamil Nadu, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry chairman and Southern India Mills Association Chairman, T Rajkumar and Ravi Sam, respectively said in a statement.

Such groups are sowing seeds of hatred in the minds of working class in Tamil Nadu, against employing migrant workers and such an attitude would pose a danger to an industrially-developed state like Tamil Nadu and affect the performance of the industry on a whole, the industry bodies pointed out.