Bengalis branded as Bangladeshis, CM Mamata to take on streets

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will lead a protest rally in Kolkata on July 16 against alleged instances of Bengali speakers being harassed or mistreated in various BJP-ruled states. The rally is scheduled to begin at 1 PM from College Square and will proceed to Dorina Crossing. According to state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, people from Kolkata, Howrah, Salt Lake, and Bhangar will participate in the march.

Bhattacharya announced the protest on July 14 and said that simultaneous rallies will take place across every organizational district of the state on the same day from 2 PM to 4 PM. She stated the rallies are being organized to protest the “insult” of the Bengali language and uphold linguistic identity. She mentioned, “In states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bengali-speaking people are being told not to speak Bengali, and are even being sent to detention camps.”

She further said, “The national anthem and the national song were written by Bengalis. Yet today, in the capital of India, people are being told—if they speak Bengali—‘catch them, jail them, put them in detention camps.’” The protest is scheduled five days ahead of Trinamool Congress’s annual Martyrs’ Day event on July 21.