New Delhi [India], August 12 : Trinamool Congress MPs gathered at Makar Dwar outside the Parliament to voice their opposition against the alleged insult to Bengal.
Prominent among the demonstrators are Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs, including Yusuf Pathan, a former cricketer and current MP for Murshidabad, alongside Jaya Bachchan from the Samajwadi Party (SP). They protested to highlight the importance of preserving and promoting the Bengali language within the national discourse.
Last week on Wednesday, TMC MPs carried out a protest in the Parliament premises over the alleged insult to Bengal. They held placards that read "Stop Insulting Bengal".
They also held portraits of national icons from Bengal, including Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose.
Trinamool Congress has been conducting protest marches in West Bengal against the alleged targeting of migrants in the BJP-ruled States.
The first such marches were conducted across the State on July 27, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had called for protests every weekend until the next year's Assembly polls at a Martyrs' Day rally on July 21.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) notices are being issued to legitimate Indian citizens simply because they are from her State. "It is deeply unfortunate that a deliberate, systematic attempt is now being made to criminalise our language. Questions are being raised on whether Bengali is even a language," the Chief Minister said in a post on X.
"Bengali-speakers are being hounded, hunted, and humiliated in BJP-ruled states. NRC notices are being issued to legitimate Indian citizens simply because they are from Bengal. They seem to have forgotten that without Bengali, there would be no National Anthem or National Song," she said.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Delhi Police of describing Bengali as a "Bangladeshi language", calling it scandalous, anti-national and unconstitutional.
Sharing a letter by Delhi Police on X, Banerjee said, "See now how Delhi police under the direct control of the 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!!"
BJP leader Amit Malviya hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, suggesting that she be booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for allegedly inciting linguistic conflict.
He argued that her reaction to the entire issue was "misplaced and dangerously inflammatory", while adding that Delhi Police's letter does not describe Bangla as a 'Bangladeshi' language.
"Mamata Banerjee's reaction to Delhi Police referring to the language used by infiltrators as 'Bangladeshi' is not just misplaced, it is dangerously inflammatory. Nowhere in the Delhi Police letter is Bangla or Bengali described as a 'Bangladeshi' language. To claim otherwise and call upon Bengalis to rise against the Centre is deeply irresponsible. Mamata Banerjee should be held accountable--perhaps even under the National Security Act--for inciting linguistic conflict," Malviya posted on Kh.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammed (Md) Salim also trained guns on Delhi Police, calling it "illiterate", posted on X, "Will the 'illiterate' [?] Delhi Police tell us what's this 'Bangladeshi language'? Moreover, why Delhi Police has failed to make their officers aware of the 8th Schedule of our Constitution."