Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, on Sunday, condemned the BJP after a letter from Delhi Police referred to Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language”.
Both described the issue of such language by the Delhi Police as “anti-national” and “unconstitutional”.
In a social media post, the Chief Minister said the move was an insult to Bengali-speaking people in the country. She also urged Bengalis nationwide to register their strongest possible protest.
“See now how Delhi Police under the direct control of the Ministry of Home, Government of India, is describing Bengali as ‘Bangladeshi’ language!” Banerjee wrote, sharing a photocopy of the Delhi Police letter.
“Bengali, our mother tongue, the language of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, the language in which our National Anthem and the National Song (the latter by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay) are written, the language in which crores of Indians speak and write, the language which is sanctified and recognised by the Constitution of India, is now described as a Bangladeshi language!!” Banerjee added.
Accusing the BJP government in Delhi of using anti-Constitutional language to insult Bengalis, the Chief Minister said, “Scandalous, insulting, anti-national, unconstitutional!! This insults all Bengali-speaking people of India. They cannot use this kind of language, which degrades and debases us all. We urge immediate, strongest possible protests from all against the anti-Bengali Government of India, who are using such anti-Constitutional language to insult and humiliate the Bengali-speaking people of India.”
Hitting out at the BJP for its “calculated attempt” to defame Bengal and Bengalis, Abhishek Banerjee, also the party MP and the Chief Minister’s nephew, said that the move was a direct violation of Article 343 and the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Abhishek Banerjee also demanded the “immediate suspension of Investigating Officer Amit Dutt and a formal public apology from @DelhiPolice, @BJP4India, and the Home Ministry led by @AmitShah.”
“For months now, Bengali-speaking people have been targeted, harassed, and detained across BJP-ruled states. Now, in a shocking escalation, @DelhiPolice has officially referred to Bangla as a ‘Bangladeshi language’ in an official letter,” he said in a post on X.
The Trinamool leader further said that Bengalis are not outsiders in the country.
“This is not a mere clerical error; it is yet another CALCULATED ATTEMPT by the BJP to defame Bengal, undermine our cultural identity, and equate West Bengal with Bangladesh for narrow political propaganda. It is a direct violation of Article 343 and the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. There is no language called ‘Bangladeshi’. To call Bangla a foreign language is not just an insult- It’s an attack on our identity, culture, and belonging. Bengalis are not outsiders in their own homeland,” Abhishek Banerjee said
BJP’s state president in West Bengal and the party’s Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya, had, however, come in defence of Delhi Police, citing the difference in the accent and style of Bengali spoken and written by an “Indian Bengali” and a “Bangladeshi Bengali”.
“You read a book written by a ‘Bangladeshi Bengali’ writer or poet and compare the same with a book written by an ‘Indian Bengali’ writer or poet. You will understand the difference. Any individual cannot be included in the voters’ list just because he or she speaks in Bengali,” Bhattacharya said.
(IANS)
