The battle for Bengali pride has reached Parliament with Trinamool MPs submitting multiple motions in both the Houses demanding a discussion on what they called discrimination and attacks on Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.

The motions were submitted two days after Bengal chief minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee announced the launch of a new Bhasha Andolan (language movement) to protect the Bengali-speaking people.

“Speaking Bengali cannot be a crime. Many people have been arrested and pushed across the international border into Bangladesh branded as Bangladeshi,” said a Trinamool MP. “The Bengal government took steps to bring them back to their homes.”

Trinamool sources said the motions tabled before Parliament are for calling attention, short-term discussions and include other procedures available to the members for raising relevant and critical issues.

“The aggression against Bengali-speaking people has been on the rise over the last few weeks,” a Trinamool source said. “There have been instances in the past as well. This time the BJP leaders are trying to link this issue with the electoral roll revisions. Their only hope to come to power in Bengal is by deleting genuine voters.”

Trinamool Lok Sabha MP from Midnapore, June Maliah raised the plight of the bengali-speaking people of Vasant Kunj's Jai Hind Colony under rule 377 that allows members to raise issues of public importance.

Trinamool’s Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee told reporters outside the Parliament, Bengalis were being humiliated in BJP-ruled states.

“Bengalis are being tortured. They are being picked up and pushed to Bangladesh,” Banerjee said.

On Monday evening, Mamata Banerjee had alleged the Assam government’s Foreigner’s Tribunal had served notice to one Anjali Seal, a resident of Jateswar in Alipurduar’s Falakata.

Seal is the second resident from north Bengal, after Cooch Behar’s Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, to have been served with the notice from the neighbouring state demanding she establish her identity as an Indian citizen or be deported.

Mamata had also said the BJP government in Haryana had sent a letter with a list of 52 Bengali-speaking migrant workers detained in the state to verify their identities.

“They cannot do this,” Mamata had said on Monday.

From this weekend, Trinamool leaders and workers all over the state will be participating in rallies demanding a stop on the assault on the Bengali language.

Mamata is likely to join the rally in Birbhum where she will be on an administrative visit.