“Scandalous, insulting, anti‑national, and unconstitutional" is how Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee described an August 3 letter by the Delhi police that called Bengali, or Bangla, a “Bangladeshi language”. Bengali artists and other parties, including Banerjee's arch rival CPM, echoed the sentiment.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya reacted by accusing Mamata Banerjee of spreading misinformation for “vote‑bank politics”. He called her X post “a badly scripted political stunt”.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, sharing an image of the letter on X, emphasised that Bengali is sanctified by the Indian Constitution, and the mother tongue of icons like Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
The police had purportedly written to Banga Bhawan, West Bengal’s state guest house in New Delhi, seeking assistance with translating documents written in “Bangladeshi language” for eight individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. HT has not independently verified the authenticity of the letter, while police have not yet responded.
{{/usCountry}}The police had purportedly written to Banga Bhawan, West Bengal’s state guest house in New Delhi, seeking assistance with translating documents written in “Bangladeshi language” for eight individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. HT has not independently verified the authenticity of the letter, while police have not yet responded.
{{/usCountry}}TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee demanded an apology from home minister Amit Shah, under whose ministry Delhi Police falls.
“For months now, Bengali-speaking people have been targeted, harassed and detained across BJP-ruled states,” he added, and called the letter “a shocking escalation” and an attempt to “undermine Bengali identity” and "equate Indian Bengalis with foreigners”.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra, too, posted: “To call [Bangla] a Bangladeshi language on official documentation is a calculated action. We demand an unconditional apology from the Delhi Police."
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM also stressed that Bengali is spoken by millions in India, “But Delhi Police thinks Bengali = Bangladeshi.” It added, “We strongly condemn this criminalisation of language and identity.”
Bengali artists were among those incensed by the police letter.
"That's not Bangladeshi language… that's Bangla or Bengali," film director Srijit Mukherji posted on X, “the same language in which your national anthem was originally written and one of the 22 official languages of India.”
"Bangla referred to as Bangladeshi language... Exactly the kind of ignorance I expect from the people responsible... Not surprised at all," wrote singer Surojit Chatterjee.
But Samik Bhattacharya, the West Bengal BJP president, in turn accused the TMC of resorting to “fear-mongering tactics” for Indian Bengalis and “shielding” illegal immigrants.