Mamata Banerjee slams BJP over 'Bangladeshi language' row, sparks political storm

A political controversy erupted after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee strongly criticised the Delhi Police for allegedly describing Bengali as a “Bangladeshi” language in an official letter.

The statement, which surfaced over the weekend, has led to a heated exchange between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.

The letter in question, reportedly related to a case under the Foreigners Act and addressed to the officer-in-charge of Banga Bhawan in Delhi, referred to documents written in “Bangladeshi” — prompting Mamata Banerjee to post on X, “This insults all Bengali-speaking people of India. They cannot use this kind of language which degrades and debases us all...” She labeled the language used in the letter “anti-national, and unconstitutional!”

As the issue escalated on Monday, the Trinamool Congress issued a strong statement accusing the BJP of “systematically promoting xenophobia and ‘othering’... with Bengalis being deliberately targeted.” The party further added, “Such dangerous narratives must be condemned and resisted at every level.”

Responding to the backlash, BJP leader Amit Malviya claimed that Mamata Banerjee's remarks were “dangerously inflammatory” and called for her to be held accountable under the National Security Act.

In a detailed post on X, he said, “Nowhere in the Delhi Police letter is Bangla or Bengali described as a ‘Bangladeshi’ language. To claim otherwise and call on Bengalis to rise against the centre is deeply irresponsible.”

Malviya argued that the use of the term “Bangladeshi” referred to the language patterns of undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.

“The term is being used to describe a set of dialects, syntax, and speech patterns that are distinctly different from the Bangla spoken in India,” he stated. He further explained that “the official language of Bangladesh is not only phonologically different... but also includes dialects like Sylheti that are nearly incomprehensible to Indian Bengalis.”

“There is, in fact, no language called 'Bengali' that neatly covers all these variants... 'Bengali' denotes ethnicity... not linguistic uniformity. So when Delhi Police says 'Bangladeshi language', it is a shorthand for the linguistic markers used to profile illegal immigrants from Bangladesh,” Malviya added.

The Trinamool, however, was quick to counter these claims.

Calling the justification “shocking,” the party said, “There is, in fact, no language called ‘Bengali’... this shocking justification by BJP-run institutions while profiling Bengali migrant workers reflects the regime's deep-rooted hostility towards the Bengali identity. Denying the existence of a constitutionally recognised language is nothing short of linguistic apartheid.”