Kolkata, Jul 21: Pitching ‘Bengali asmita’ as her battle cry for the 2026 polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday tore into the BJP for unleashing “linguistic terrorism” on migrant Bengalis, vowing an unrelenting battle to defend identity and mother tongue till the saffron party is defeated.
Addressing a massive Martyrs’ Day rally in the heart of Kolkata, Banerjee declared, “If this linguistic profiling doesn’t stop, our resistance movement will reach New Delhi.
She gave a clarion call to party workers to launch a fresh agitation from July 27, styled as a second ‘Language Movement’, to resist what she called systematic attacks on Bengali identity and attempts to erase the Bengali language from the national landscape.
“If needed, there will be a second language movement against the BJP’s terrorism on the Bengali language… From July 27, a movement will start in Bengal in protest against the attack on Bengalis, Bengali language and ‘Bhasha santras’ (linguistic terrorism). This language movement will continue till the assembly polls,” she announced.
The first Language Movement took place in 1952 in erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh), when protesters demanded that Bengali be recognised as one of the official languages of Pakistan.
Banerjee hinted the “real battle” for 2026 would not be fought just at the ballot box but over the voter list, alleging a “silent purge” of legitimate voters through a conspiracy between the BJP and the Election Commission.
“They can remove names from the electoral roll till the day of nomination. I am telling our organisation, don’t let a single name be struck off… We must win more seats in the 2026 assembly polls and then march to Delhi to defeat the BJP,” she said.
Alleging that legitimate voters in Bengal, especially minorities and Bengali-speaking migrants, were being targeted for deletion from electoral rolls, she warned of mass mobilisation if the practice continued.
Banerjee gave her party workers the slogan: “Zobdo hobe, stobdho hobe. Amader darshon, tomader bisorjon” (They will be seized, they will be silenced. Our ideology, your downfall) as a battle cry for the 2026 polls.
She accused the BJP of attempting to erase the Bengali identity, language, culture and pride through “vindictive policies” ranging from NRC notices to voter roll exclusions and even detention camps in BJP-ruled states.
“The BJP wants to erase our identity, language, culture and pride. But, I promise you, till the time we oust them from the Centre, our fight will continue,” she thundered.
“In 2019, they vandalised the statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. They saw the results of that audacious act of insulting Bengali icons. Now, they have issued notifications to delete Bengali names from voter lists. In BJP-ruled states, Bengalis are being harassed and put in detention camps,” she claimed.
She also slammed claims by BJP leaders that Bengal was sheltering 17 lakh Rohingyas.
Banerjee said, “UN data says there are only about 10-13 lakh Rohingyas globally. Where did this 17 lakh figure come from?”
Calling upon TMC workers to remain vigilant, she said, “Our workers should be very cautious about attempts to erase names of legitimate voters of Bengal and include people from other BJP-ruled states into our voter list.
Banerjee also came down heavily on Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, saying, “He cannot handle his state but is meddling in the affairs of Bengal. I urge Sushmita Dev (Assam TMC leader) to organise a massive protest in that state. We will all join.
She questioned the Assam government’s jurisdiction to send NRC notices to residents of Bengal.
Highlighting Bengal’s inclusive ethos, she said, “Bengal is home to nearly 1.5 crore migrants from other states. We welcome people from all over India, but look at what the BJP is doing to Bengalis.”
“The BJP and the Election Commission are conspiring against Bengal. They want to do in Bengal what they did in Bihar through SIR. In Bihar, they have deleted names of 40 lakh voters. If they try it here, we will gherao them. We will never allow it,” she said.
Slamming the saffron camp’s narrative of upholding democracy, Banerjee claimed BJP criticises Emergency, whereas it has imposed ‘Super Emergency’ in the country.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly, she said, “You say development will come to Bengal with a change of guard. But what have you done for the country’s development in the last 11 years?”
Her remarks came days after Modi addressed a rally in Bengal, claiming the BJP alone truly respected Bengali asmita and called for ending a regime of “lies, lawlessness and loot”.
“You are being controlled by the American President, and you dare to lecture us? When illegal immigrants were deported from the US, tied in shackles, mostly from Gujarat, what was the BJP doing then?” she asked, referring to the February deportation of Indians from America.
Mocking Modi’s attempts to woo Bengali voters, she said, “You come to Bengal, speak in Bengali by watching a teleprompter, and think you can win our hearts? You couldn’t even take PoK, but you are dreaming of Bengal.”
Responding to her remarks, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya blamed the TMC government for identity confusion and said, “Thousands of infiltrators from Bangladesh have managed to create fake papers identifying them as Bengal residents and are now roaming across the country as Indians. – PTI
