Mamata Banerjee on Monday indicated that the BJP’s alleged Bengali-phobia would be a key plank for next summer’s Assembly elections, alongside the poll panel’s “special intensive revision” that she fears is aimed at manipulating the electoral rolls.
In her 67-minute address from Trinamool’s Martyrs’ Day dais, the chief minister accused the BJP of subjecting Bengali-speaking Indians to a “bhasha sontrash” (language terrorism).
She pledged a “bhasha andolon” (language movement), starting with rallies every weekend from July 27.
“If this profiling on the basis of our mother tongue doesn’t stop, our fierce resistance, our intense movement will be taken to Delhi.... Khyala toh abar hobe (The game is on again),” she said.
Mamata announced a “BJP, Quit India Movement” on August 9, Quit India Day, which commemorates Mahatma Gandhi’s historic movement against the British.
“If necessary, there will be another bhasha andolon in response to the BJP’s terrorism against the Bengali language,” she said, using a term harking back to the language movement in the then East Pakistan seven decades ago.
She sounded a call for a poriborton (change of guard) at the Centre. “We must win even more seats here in 2026, then march to Delhi to vanquish the BJP,” Mamata said.
“You (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) said development would come to Bengal with a poriborton. You have been at the helm of the country for 11 years, what development did you bring?” she asked.
“Bengal has already undergone poriborton (in 2011)… we are here. Now, Delhi must undergo poriborton. Here, today, I have laid the foundation for uprooting them from Delhi. Our fight will not stop until they are shown the door.”
Accusing the Election Commission of subservience to the BJP, Mamata said: “The BJP and the commission are conspiring against Bengal. They want to replicate in Bengal what they did in Bihar in the name of the SIR (special intensive revision of rolls), deleting 40 lakh names.”
She added: “If they try that here, we will gherao them indefinitely. We will never allow that to happen here.”
She went on to allege that “manipulation” of the electoral rolls was what handed the BJP unlikely victories in recent Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra
and Delhi.
Mamata again brought up the purported circular she claimed the Centre had secretly issued to BJP-ruled states to target Bengali-speaking people.
“If someone is suspected, they could be detained for a month and sent to detention or holding camps. This is the Centre’s notification of May 2, 2025,” she said.
“Over 1,000 people have been taken to Bangladesh.… So many others have been harassed in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha.
“Another notification was sent in July... it says they want us to appoint a nodal officer who will remove names from the voter list to take away people’s identity and existence in Bengal — they are essentially saying people cannot speak Bengali.”
After lambasting the Centre for the state of the economy, unemployment, the tweaking of history, interference with personal choices and a general atmosphere of fear, Mamata brought up the BJP’s frequent marches to her home or the state secretariat. She threatened retaliation.
“They organise marches to my house or the secretariat at the drop of a hat. What happens if Trinamool workers start conducting sit-ins outside the homes of BJP leaders?” she said.
“Whenever a Bengali (Indian) is detained or harassed in a BJP-ruled state, start a dharna in Calcutta to express solidarity with them,” she told her supporters.
Mamata Banerjee with Uttam Kumar Brajabasi on the dais of the Martyr's Day event in Esplanade, Calcutta, on Monday. Picture by Sanat Kr Sinha
Mamata peppered her speech with jibes at the Prime Minister without naming him.
“You (Modi) come to Bengal and make arduous attempts at speaking Bengali by reading out from a teleprompter -- you think that’s how hearts can be won here?” she said.
She alleged a “disconnect” between Modi’s “words and real feelings for Bengal”.
“You couldn’t even retake control of (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir), and you are dreaming of seizing Bengal?”she said.
“Where is India now? You are being controlled by the US President. Donald Trump is controlling you... and yet you make loud, lofty claims. What kind of Hindu are you?
“The US President sent back planes filled with people to Gujarat, with their hands and feet shackled and tied. Where were you then? No one was ever sent back to Bengal.... They should look at themselves in the mirror.”
Mamata accused the BJP of fearing Bengal’s pluralist, inclusive ethos.
“I think you are afraid of those who speak Bengali. Bengal produced icons like Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Kazi Nazrul Islam... Gandhiji’s favourite state was Bengal,”she said.
“Where did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s ‘Jai Hind’ slogan come from? Where did the national song Vande Mataram come from? Where did the national anthem come from? You do not show respect for the vast majority of our freedom fighters who were from Bengal.
“We respect all languages, but why are you attacking ours? Bengal played a vital role in the freedom struggle. We awakened (South Asia) through the Bengal Renaissance. What Bengal can do, others cannot. We might break but we will not bend.”
Mamata added: “The BJP is seeking to erase our identity, our language, our pride, our culture. I promise you, we will not stop fighting them till we have thrown them out of power from the Centre.”