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photo-article-logo Monday, 21 July 2025

Mamata sounds 2026 poll bugle, vows new language movement to counter BJP’s ‘Bangladeshi’ charge

'Every weekend after July 27 till the elections, hold rallies to protest against the attack on Bengalis… The movement has started today...will continue till the Assembly election results are announced,' says Bengal chief minister

Our Bureau Published 21.07.25, 03:30 PM
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Picture by: Amit Dutta
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Thirty two years after a movement for photo identity cards for voters, Mamata Banerjee announced a new language movement to protest the alleged branding of Bengali-speaking people as Bangladeshis.

“If needed, there will be another language movement,” Mamata said during her nearly 60-minute long speech at the annual July 21 rally adjacent to Victoria House in Esplanade.

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PTI

The annual rally, which once was the grand stage for leaders from other parties to join the Trinamool, has also been the platform for Mamata to set the party’s vision before every election.

For the crucial 2026 Assembly polls, Mamata and Trinamool will go to the poll battle with Bangla language as the main plank, against the BJP, ruling at the Centre.

On the dais along with the Trinamool leaders, elected representatives and functionaries, was Cooch Behar resident Uttam Kumar, a Rajbanshi, who was served a notice by Assam’s Foreigner’s Tribunal to prove that he was an Indian national.

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Picture by: Amit Dutta

“Every weekend after July 27 till the elections, hold rallies to protest against the attack on Bengalis… The movement has started today,” Mamata said. “This movement will continue till the Assembly election results are announced.”

In recent weeks, Trinamool has flagged the issue of deportation of Bengali-speaking people allegedly being detained, arrested and even pushed across the international border accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.

Some of them later returned to their homes in different parts of Bengal.

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PTI

This Ekushe July, the thrust of Mamata’s speech was on the prestige of Bangla, the language spoken by around 270 million people across the globe, including neighbouring Bangladesh which was created on the basis of language more than five decades ago.

“Wherever Bengali-speaking people are detained we will protest. If even one person is detained we won’t stop protesting. I challenge them. How many jails, detention centres can they build?” Mamata asked.

Among the BJP leaders, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been the loudest on Bengali-speakers being alleged Bangladeshis who had crossed the border. In Assam, the issue has been a sensitive one for decades.

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The leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has claimed the Mamata Banerjee government has included 17 lakh Rohingyas, from Myanmar, in the electoral rolls for electoral gains.

“The UN has said there are 10 lakh Rohingyas. Where did they get this 17 lakh figure?” Mamata asked without referring to Suvendu, who was among her closest aides till about four years ago.

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X.@AITC

Trinamool’s general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP in his address to the supporters said, the party MPs will speak in Bangla on the floor of the Parliament in the monsoon session which started from Monday. ‘

“The BJP wants to send Bengalis to detention camps. After the 2026 Assembly polls, the people of Bengal will send them to the detention camps,” he said. “We are being targeted, because we speak Bengali. Why hasn’t the BJP taken any action yet against Sarma?”   

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