West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee carried out a massive protest march in rain-soaked Kolkata over alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking people in the BJP-ruled states. The protest was also a reflection of unity, as all the top leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress attended the march, including Abhishek Banerjee.
Coming down heavily on the BJP-led central and state governments for targeting Bengali migrants, the CM highlighted Bengal’s sacrifices for India’s freedom and asked the BJP to be ashamed of such an act.
West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026
As West Bengal prepares for the Assembly elections next year, the poll body has decided to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of voter lists across the state.
CM Mamata has claimed that people whose names are not on the voters’ list will be jailed and asked others to ensure whether their names are on the list, even if they need to skip work for the verification process. The TMC leader had earlier accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “acting like a stooge of the BJP” and wondered if the voter list revision was a “backdoor attempt to implement the National Register of Citizens”.
CM Mamata Slams BJP
Hitting out at the BJP’s charge of her government backing Bangladeshi infiltrators, the TMC supremo said, “The border is under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Why aren’t they stopping infiltrators?“
“They are saying they will check the 2002 voter list. So many people have died, and so many babies have been born. When the voter list revision begins, skip work if need be, but ensure your name is on the list,” Banerjee said, urging that those whose names are not on the list might also be sent to jail.
Trinamool Congress has framed the debate as part of a broader issue of Bengali identity under attack, reviving its “outsider” narrative aimed at the saffron party. The party highlighted recent incidents, including the detention of migrant workers in Odisha, evictions in the national capital, and a foreigners’ tribunal notice in Assam to a Bengali farmer, as evidence of a systemic targeting of Bengali-speaking citizens.
BJP Leader Suvendu Adhikari Hits Out at CM
On the other side, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, has questioned if “Bengali asmita” is being flaunted to shield the presence of “Bengali-speaking Rohingyas and illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators. And if she is so concerned about Bengali identity, why don’t she hear the cries of the thousands of Bengalis who, due to her corruption, lost their teaching jobs and are protesting on the streets?”
“The people of Bengal know that you prioritise nothing but vote-bank politics, so everyone well understands that your politics of Bengali identity is merely an attempt to divert attention from your mountain of corruption,” Adhikari added.
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