Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 19 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has condemned what she described as a “divisive agenda” being pursued by the BJP in Assam, accusing the ruling party of persecuting Bengali-speaking citizens for asserting their linguistic identity.
In a sharply worded statement on X, Mamata said, “The second most spoken language in the country, Bangla, is also the second most spoken language of Assam. To threaten citizens who want to coexist peacefully, respecting all languages and religions, with persecution for upholding their own mother tongue is discriminatory and unconstitutional. This divisive agenda of the BJP in Assam has crossed all limits, and people of Assam will fight back.”
She added her support for those standing up for their linguistic and cultural identity. “I stand with every fearless citizen who is fighting for the dignity of their language and identity, and their democratic rights,” she said.
Earlier, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) affiliated workers’ union, the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC), staged a protest march against the National Register of Citizens(NRC) in Siliguri, condemning the alleged harassment and pushback of migrant Bengali-speaking individuals from several BJP-ruled states.
The union has said that the Bengali-speaking migrants have been incorrectly labelled as “Bangladeshis.” Party workers held placards and shouted slogans against what they called a systematic targeting of Bengali migrants under the guise of identifying illegal immigrants, according to a statement from the union.
INTTUC leader Nirjal Dey said, “Bengalis have made the biggest sacrifices for the country. Today, this is a question of the existence of Bengalis. Today, Bengali-speaking individuals are being sent to detention camps. We are residents of Bengal and speak Bengali. We are proud of it. In Bengal, members of all sections of society live in harmony…But in Odisha, 400 Bengalis have been sent to detention camps. Their nationality is being questioned. Their only crime is that they speak Bengali; they are being branded as foreigners. This is the biggest issue…Arrest Rohingyas, but why will you arrest Bengali-speaking Indians? That is our question…”
On July 16, Mamata Banerjee attacked the BJP and the various state governments led by the party for discriminating against Bengali-speaking citizens.
In a fiery speech, she alleged that people were being harassed based on language, identity, and political bias. She recalled the recent incidents and alleged that people from Bengal were being harassed in states like Maharashtra and Assam. (ANI)
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