We have received this short report on working conditions in the city of Gurgaon from a sympathiser in India. It demonstrates how all across the world attacks on "foreign" workers are becoming a weapon of choice for the ruling class as it tries to shift the blame for the crisis of their system and pave the way for the drive to war.

Police, Profit, and the Crisis of Capitalism

1. Introduction: Not an Exception, but a Pattern

In recent days, there has been a noticeable rise in attacks on the working class, particularly in urban centers like Delhi and Gurgaon. The authorities are increasingly targeting some of the most vulnerable sections of society, particularly Bengali-speaking Muslim workers, under the guise of investigating the “legality” of slums or checking the nationality of migrant workers.

These actions are not simply the result of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), or any particular political party. Rather, they reflect a broader trend: a capitalist system in crisis, displacing its own contradictions onto the working class.

In Maharashtra, similar patterns of scapegoating are visible. North Indian workers, especially those from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, are demonized under the banner of “local jobs for locals.” In the United States, immigrant workers face deportation and violence when they organize. In France, Greece, and Israel, legality and nationalism are weaponized to crush dissent.

This report draws from direct interactions with workers in Gurgaon, especially Bengali Muslims, who have faced police violence, raids, and public humiliation often despite holding Indian documents. Their experience is not the exception. It is a warning sign of where capitalism is headed globally.

2. Urban Legality and the Criminalization of Survival

Across Indian cities, the poor are being pushed into an impossible position: work tirelessly to build the economy, but expect no security, no rights, and no recognition. In Delhi, slum demolitions and evictions are carried out in the name of “beautification”, “master planning”, or “illegal encroachment.” But those who are punished are the same people who keep the cities alive: construction workers, domestic workers, sanitation staff, street vendors, etc.

Legality, as we all know, is a weapon or instrument of capital. It does not protect anyone but rather the interests of capital. It is instead deployed selectively as a tool to criminalize survival and to push the working class further into precarity. When questioned, state authorities and courts claim they are simply enforcing the law. But the law itself is written to serve property or capital, not people.

In Maharashtra, another layer is added: regional chauvinism. Workers from North India, especially those speaking Hindi or Bhojpuri, are regularly scapegoated in the name of protecting “local jobs.” Violence and intimidation are not only tolerated but often encouraged through silence and impunity. Yet it is not the Maratha or Bihari worker who caused the job crisis, it is the economic system itself.

These campaigns of “legality” and “localism” are designed to hide the real enemy. When the economy fails to deliver even basic security, the state looks for easier targets: migrants, Muslims, the poor, and frames them as the problem. But in truth, these workers are not the crisis. They are the victims of it.

3. Case Study: Workers Targeted in Gurgaon in Name of Language, Religion & Nationality

Gurgaon is one of the wealthiest cities in India, home to hundreds of multinational corporations (MNCs) and luxury residential towers. But behind its corporate skyline lies a brutal truth it runs on cheap, informal, and heavily policed labor.

During recent visits, we spoke with several Bengali-speaking Muslim workers living in slums and employed in sectors like housekeeping and delivery. One of them works in the housekeeping department of an MNC but still lives hand-to-mouth. Despite having an Aadhar card and voter ID, he has been attacked by the police on two separate occasions both times for simply speaking Bengali.

Police accused him and others of being “Bangladeshis”, invoking patriotism and Islamophobic tropes to justify the violence. These workers live in constant fear not only of arrest, but of routine harassment. Some said they are too afraid to even step out to buy medicine, fearing detention.

The irony is striking: these same workers were once welcomed into the city when capital needed their labor. Now, in times of economic contraction, they are discarded, demonized, and hunted.

It is important to emphasize: even if they were Bangladeshi that does not change anything, our position would not change. As communists and internationalists, we reject the artificial boundaries of the nation state. A worker is a worker wherever they come from. These people built the city. Their right to live in it is non-negotiable.

4. Legality as a Weapon: The Class Character of Citizenship

One of the most insidious forms of repression today is the redefinition of citizenship not as a basic right, but as a privilege reserved for the wealthy. In Delhi and Gurgaon, this shift is becoming dangerously clear.

Most working-class migrants including those targeted in recent crackdowns possess official Indian documents: Aadhar cards, voter IDs, job ID cards, and school records. Yet these are increasingly being dismissed by the state as “insufficient” proof of citizenship. New criteria are being imposed: passports, property papers, land records requirements that are impossible for the poor to meet.

This is not a bureaucratic oversight, it is a deliberate political move. By shifting the goalposts of legality, the state creates an ever-expanding population of people who are vulnerable, exploitable, and removable. A worker without “valid documents” is not just insecure, they are also disempowered, unable to access welfare, demand justice, or even move freely.

This is a class project. Yes, it disproportionately targets Bengali Muslims and North Indian migrants. But the logic behind it is to attack the whole working class.

Where the rich inherit properties, passports, and networks the poor inherit suspicion. While the capitalist class is rewarded for tax evasion and land hoarding, the working class is punished for simply existing.

5. Global Reflections: Repression as a Capitalist Strategy

What is happening in India is not unique. Around the world, states facing economic crisis are turning to repression not as an emergency response, but as a strategic solution. In the face of capitalism's crisis of profitability, it no longer promises growth or employment. Instead, it demands control.

In the United States, immigrant workers, especially those organizing unions, are regularly targeted under immigration laws. During recent labor protests in Los Angeles, migrant cleaners and warehouse workers faced intimidation, detentions, and deportations. The rhetoric is always the same: legality, security, nationalism. And the function is always identical: break the resistance of labor.

In France, police violence against undocumented African workers is justified in the name of “national identity.” In Greece, migrants are blamed for unemployment. In Israel, the bombing of Palestinian neighborhoods could be justified in the name of protecting the Nation from outsiders.

Whether it’s anti-worker laws in India or anti-immigrant laws in Europe, the common thread is crisis management for the interest of capital. As the global rate of profit declines and capitalist economies stagnate, governments must protect capital’s interests not by providing for the working class, but by disciplining it.

6. Conclusion: Organize or Be Crushed

The attacks on Bengali workers in Gurgaon, the criminalization of slum dwellers in Delhi, the persecution of migrants in Maharashtra, and the repression of immigrant labor globally are not isolated incidents. They are coordinated expressions of a decaying economic order, one that can no longer offer stability or legitimacy to the majority. Capitalism in crisis does not retreat, it retaliates.

The ruling class, unable to generate profit as before, seeks to shift the burden onto workers through inflation, unemployment, repression, and fear. When resistance arises, it deploys the tools of legality, nationalism, communalism, and police force to break it down.

But repression is not proof of strength, it is proof of fear. The system fears what the working class can become if it is united, organized, and conscious of its power. That is why the most urgent task before us is not just to expose the violence, but to fight back with organization.

When we met with Bengali workers in Gurgaon, we didn’t merely document their pain, we discussed strategy. The answer lies not in appeals to the state or NGOs, but in the creation of independent struggle committees: collective bodies formed and led by workers themselves. These committees can coordinate defense, build solidarity across regions and religions, and articulate demands rooted in the real needs of the class.

Communists and revolutionaries must walk with the working class, not ahead of it or above it. We must listen, share analysis, and help construct the tools of resistance. History has shown that when workers organize, they can shake empires.

Today, the question is brutally simple:

Organize or be crushed! Workers of the world unite!

Notes:

Image: Slyronit (CC BY-SA 4.0), commons.wikimedia.org