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The safai-karamcharis (sanitation workers) who pretty much do the heavy lifting of taking the city's trash out and keeping its streets clean have come under scanner in Uttar Pradesh. Particularly, the poverty-stricken Miya Muslims from Assam—who make up the majority of these workers—are now being targeted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'Operation Torch' or Operation 'Ghuspaithiya.'
Among them is Salma.* Salma is responsible for cleaning and keeping out the garbage in a few apartments in Mahanagar, Lucknow. In the past week, she has woken up with dread. Being summoned to to verify documents is not new for her. But it is the way in which the process has been accompanied by communal remarks that has sparked fears.
"It's not that we are scared of showing our documents, we are adhering to all rules. But it is remarks by leaders of this government that are demeaning. Here, the MLA came to our basti and outrightly called us Bangladeshi without any proof and threatened us to leave."Salma, Muslim worker from Assam to The Quint
What Salma is referring to is this. BJP MLA (Lucknow-North) Neeraj Bora visited her Fazullaganj basti and was seen holding their Aadhar cards on a video and said:
"These Aadhar cards seem fake to me. They are all Ghuspaithiyas and they have been sent from Bangladesh...They don't know the language, they say they are speaking Axomiya, but they are speaking Bangladeshi and are Rohingya, Ghuspaithiya." He added that they must leave the place.
But in fact, it was reported last year that it was a BJP youth wing worker arrested for allegedly being involved in forging identity documents and facilitating illegal border crossing for Bangladeshis.
For this ground report, The Quint visited the several settlements in Lucknow where majority of these workers live, mainly Fazullaganj and Daliganj. Muslim migrants from Assam co-exist with jhuggis of migrants from neighbouring cities of UP such as Gonda, Gorakhpur, Bahraich, Sitapur etc.
However, only Miya Muslim migrants have been overtly questioned. In the past few days, the hate accompanying the crackdown has intensified.
Some days ago, this pamphlet by the name of 'Yogi ki Paati' was distributed in Hazratganj and Bhoothnath market areas.
The pamphlet warned that 'foreign infiltrators' working in urban bodies will be identified and sent to detention centres. It warned employers to verify people before employing anyone in personal or commercial capacity.
"Infiltrators are not acceptable under any circumstances. Citizens have the right over resources, not infiltrators.... Strict and decisive action has been initiated against illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators living in the state...With this objective, a special campaign for document verification is being conducted so that infiltrators can be identified and sent to detention centers."
But this campaign has turned into a targeted attack against poor Muslim migrants from Assam and this sentiment has been brewing for a while.
In October 2025, BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brij Lal uploaded a video where he questioned the identities of Muslim sanitation workers from Assam.
“They claim to be from Assam, but they are all Bangladeshi. Bangladesh which today speaks the language of Pakistan,” demanding that they are deported.
'Is Assam Not a Part of India? Is Speaking Bengali a Crime?'
The truth on the ground is in stark contrast. All the workers we met corroborated one simple fact: That they have been routinely submitting their documents, including NRC papers, to official authorities over the years.
A majority of the workers, like Salma, belong to Barpeta district in Assam and almost 90% of Miya Muslims here are working as sanitation workers.
While Salma mostly cleans and clears out garbage, her husband is a sanitation worker with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) or Nagar Nigam.
"This time too, the authorities asked me my name, my home, my district, I told them everything. I have been here for 17 years. I told them that floods took away everything from us in Assam, our home, community and livelihood. So we came here to work and support our family," Salma told The Quint.
This is also true for all the workers we spoke to. The Miya Muslim community settled in Lucknow and other parts of UP after their homes were submerged in the flood-prone Barpeta district.
"Ever since Operation Ghuspaithiya has started, it has created fear and dread in our hearts, not because we have anything to hide or are doing anything illegal. But because of how quick they are to brand us 'illegal', 'Bangladeshis' and 'intruders.' Only because we speak Bengali and are from Assam, is that a crime?" said Salma.
Although Salma has all her documents — Aadhar, PAN, ration card, voter card, NRC list, voter list — in place, due to a minor, clerical error, her husband's name is missing from the NRC list. Why? Because his grandfather's formal and informal names were mixed up. "I am scared for my husband that authorities will not understand. I am also scared for my sister-in-law as she does not know Hindi and only speaks Bengali," lamented Salma.
In Fazullaganj basti, there is Anwar*, 76, who has lived in Lucknow for 30 years. Initially, he lived in Purania area and cleaned up garbage.
Anwar too, lost his home to floods.
"What proof does anyone have that we are Bangladeshi? If this community speaks a mix of Hindi-Bengali or speaks broken Hindi, then they are shown to be suspects by the media," Anwar told The Quint.
NRC list which has names of Anwar and his family members.
(Photo: Aliza Noor/The Quint)
He claimed that locals from UP are working in Assam, there are locals migrating from different cities for better jobs in Guwahati and even have bought plots in Assam, "Why is it a problem if we are working here?"
Saleem, *an e-rickshaw driver butted in and said, "Mann mein dukh lagta hain," with a faint smile. "Seeing what is being said about us. Check our IDs and papers all you want, but don’t call us Bangladeshis. We have asked our fathers and grandfathers if they ever saw Bangladesh, but even they did not have anything to tell us because they never did."
Ganesh, a local in Fazullaganj is a friend and a sort of an ally to this community. In 2017, he supported the locals in filing a case in a Qaiserbagh court against similar harassment faced by these migrants after a theft case which was falsely linked to them. After this, the harassment had subsided until now.
"They have their documents, we have known them since years. If any such 'intruder' is found, they are welcome to take action but the politics has amplified the hate against them," Ganesh told The Quint.
From 'Urdu Books' to Other Baseless TV Media Claims
When The Quint was travelling through the narrow lanes of Daliganj locality, we asked a local vendor the direction to one of the jhuggis. He told us, "Next to the small temple, they have occupied the space."
Adjacent to a small temple is a small jhuggi where Mehreen stays.* A 30 year old Miya Muslim with three minor children. She told The Quint that their supervisor at the LMC was kind enough to help them with the space for the jhuggi.
A safai karamchari herself, her husband works with the LMC too under the same supervisor, cleaning garbage on a nearby road.
Mehreen, also belonging to Barpeta in Assam, was merely 4-5 years old when she came to Lucknow with her family. She showed me all of her documents, Aadhar card, PAN card and even her NRC lists.
"We hear TV channels calling us Bangladeshis, that has scared us even though our fathers and grandfathers were all from Assam and we only came here to earn and support our family. Our farms were washed away in floods," Mehreen told The Quint.
Mainstream media channels have boisterously ran headlines already declaring these settlements as 'hotspots' of illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.
One Aaj Tak headline stated that "Urdu books were found in these settlements" to suggest that the mere act of possessing Urdu books amounts to a crime.
Responding to this, Mehreen said, "Urdu books will obviously be found in any Muslim home or settlement, how is that wrong? You’ll find literature and holy scripts of Hindus in their homes, similarly you’ll find ours here. My daughter studies in a madrassa here so we have these books. But on TV, they say things like, ‘we have made this place into a madrassa or masjid."
The misinformation does not end here.
More TV channels like News18, Zee News and Bharat 24, among others stated that "over hundreds of Bangladeshis have fled the Nagar Nigam," and "160 Nagar Nagam employees are missing since Operation Ghuspaithya."
However, the sanitation workers on the ground told us a different story.
Right next to Mehreen's jhuggi, on the other side of the road, there is a basti where both Hindus and Muslims reside. A mosque and temple stand glued next to each other.
Jalil, a migrant from Assam resides in one of these jhuggis. Just 10 days ago, he quit his job as a driver with the Nagar Nigam and he was witness to some of these changes being brought by the corporation.
TV channels are misleading people, spreading fake news. Hundreds of safai karamcharis did not flee or leave their jobs on their own. After the recent checking of NRC lists, those whose names were missing were told not to resume work. They were not allowed to mark their attendance, work and earn their daily wage. So they were made to leave work, no one ran away.Jalil, Ex-driver with Nagar Nigam Lucknow
This was corroborated to us by other safai karamcharis we spoke to. But one case stood out, that of Asma* and her husband Rahman* who are from Dhubri, Assam.
While Rahman's father worked with the LMC and he has been employed with them for 4-5 years, Asma had worked with them for the past 5 months.
But over a week ago, Asma was abruptly fired from the Nagar Nigam, despite the fact that her name appears in the final NRC list.
"My name is in the NRC list and despite that, they removed me from my job at Nagar Nigam. I tried to clarify this for 2-3 days, I went there and called them and they conveyed to me that I should look for work elsewhere, that there are 'enough workers employed from my community.' How is this justified? Who will give me work now?" asked Asma.
Rahman and Asma have been living in Lucknow for 20 years and have a young son. Rahman said that the current exercise has manifested in hostility on the ground when they go for work, Asma bore the burnt of it.
"Some days ago, my wife went to her duty, on her usual rag-picking route near Novelty, Hazratganj. Some 3-4 locals came at her and called her a Bangladeshi and verbally attacked her. So, we showed them our papers and then they were quiet. This had not happened here before," Rahman told The Quint.
'Constitution Gives Us The Right...'
A few kilometers away, right across from a graveyard is a big basti of Miya Muslims, again, co-existing with migrants from other parts of UP. Here, there are around 40-50 jhuggis.
Jamitul Rehman, 52, was only seven years old when he came to Lucknow with his parents and siblings. He looks after the cleaning of the garbage and scrap that comes out of Lulu mall's hypermarket in the city.
"There are those who like me came here as a child, have lived here their whole life here and have never gone back, they don’t know who the head or councilor or local leaders are in their districts in Assam but they are asked about it," said Jamitul.
Jamitul has helped over 20 migrant workers living in his Daliganj basti to collate, collect, verify and submit all their documents to the authorities as many cannot read or write. He stated that their landlord also does not give anyone a place to live unless he has verified their documents.
Interestingly, he said there was another development that many migrants were not aware of and could potentially become a burden for them.
"In 2021, another district was carved out of Barpeta, it was called Bajali. Because of this, address and pin code will now differ for many," remarked Jamitul.
Jamitul's younger brother Jalil stated that Miya Muslims who come here from Assam work in the lowest paying jobs, and due to the situation, some of them have sent their children back to Assam.
"We have sent our children back to Assam to study there because there is no future for them here. There is a problem at every step. For instance, all of us have ration cards but we cannot buy any ration here, because they tell us our address is of Assam on the cards. So we travel to Assam once every month to buy ration and then come back," Jalil told The Quint.
Crossing the road, opposite to us just a bit far away, is another settlement, older than theirs, that of Hindu Bengalis who also share the same language, dialect as them.
"We have the same documents too. Yet, they are not being questioned or targeted like us. But we are, because we are Miya Muslims," remarked Jalil.
The Quint also visited the Nagar Nigam or LMC and spoke to one of the zonal officers who said, "We are checking their NRC lists, there is no one employed here whose name is missing on the list. Only those can stay here who have proven they are from Assam. Some of them are UP residents, they were born here, their birth certificates are also from Lucknow."
The local police has also been on the roll to find "illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas." They have been seen checking their documents not just in Lucknow but other cities like Varanasi as well.
"If the authorities find any Bangladeshi here then they should take them out in accordance with the law but our Constitution gives us the right to move, live and work wherever we want in this country," said Jalil, as others nodded in agreement.
(*Names have been changed to protect their identity).