KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Monday launched a scathing attack on BJP after Amit Malviya, the national convenor of the party's IT cell, said that there is no language called “Bengali”.
A day before, on Sunday, the Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came down heavily on the BJP-led Centre after Delhi Police described Bengali as “Bangladeshi” language in one of its written communications.
Referring to a letter from Inspector Amit Dutt of Lodhi Colony police station in New Delhi to the officer-in-charge of Banga Bhawan of the West Bengal Government where he called Bengali the language of Bangladeshis, Banerjee had posted on X, “See now how Delhi police under the direct control of Ministry of Home, Government of India is describing Bengali as "Bangladeshi" language! 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!!”
Responding to this, national convenor of BJP’s IT cell Amit Malviya said that Banerjee’s reaction to Delhi Police referring to the language used by infiltrators as ‘Bangladeshi’ is not just misplaced, it is dangerously inflammatory. He also claimed that nowhere in the Delhi Police letter is Bangla or Bengali described as a ‘Bangladeshi’ language. He accused Banerjee for “inciting linguistic conflict”.
In his explanation, Malviya said, “Delhi Police is absolutely right in referring to the language as Bangladeshi in the context of identifying infiltrators. 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.”
In a bid to further justify his argument, he claimed 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 the Delhi Police uses “Bangladeshi language,” it is a shorthand for the linguistic markers used to profile illegal immigrants from Bangladesh—not a commentary on Bengali as spoken in West Bengal,” Malviya added.
Within hours the Trinamool Congress countered Malviya, slamming him for “insulting” Bengali language.
In a post on X, the Trinamool Congress said, “There is, in fact, no language called Bengali” — This shocking justification by @BJP4India-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.”
The party also accused BJP for systematically promoting xenophobia and othering, with Bengalis being deliberately targeted across states. “Such dangerous narratives must be condemned and resisted at every level,” the post added.
Meanwhile, the DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has also lent his support to Banerjee on this controversy. In a post on X on Monday, he said that the Delhi Police, under the Union Home Ministry, has described Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language”, which is a direct insult to the very language in which India’s National Anthem was written.
Attacking the BJP on this issue he stated, “Such statements are not inadvertent errors or slips. They expose the dark mindset of a regime that consistently undermines diversity and weaponises identity.”
“In the face of this assault on non-Hindi languages, Hon’ble @MamataOfficial Didi stands as a shield for the language and people of West Bengal. She will not let this attack pass without a fitting response,” Stalin’s post added.