Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged the civil society, especially artistes, to conduct protests without political affiliation against prejudiced ill-treatment meted out to Bengali-speaking Indians on account of the saffron regime's "linguistic terrorism".

At a state government event in Birbhum's Illambazar in the afternoon, the chief minister once again mounted an offensive over the two issues of the saffron regime's "Bengali-phobia" and the contentious special intensive revision (SIR) of the Election Commission of India.

Mamata alleged that the EC was in cahoots with the BJP to conduct the SIR for a "backdoor implementation" of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise.

"We love and speak our language, but we do not disrespect other languages. Members of the civil society, artistes, sportspersons should also take to the streets now... civil society, art, and culture should go above and beyond politics and participate. We should all show that Bengal never gives up," said Mamata.

"No matter what, we have to fight. My life began with struggle, and it will end with struggle. I have had to endure a lot of oppression... yet, I have continued to fight," she added. "The oppression of the BJP is going on across the nation now. They want people to be divided."

The two issues that she likened to "linguistic terrorism" are now expected to be her foremost plank for the Assembly elections next summer.

Sources in the Trinamool Congress have said Mamata plans to lift the movement from the level of political to socio-political, ensuring the participation of wider sections of the civil society, to turn this into a "BJP versus Bengal" fight to the finish.

"This could well go the bohiragoto (outsider) versus the ontorgoto (insider) discourse that left the BJP reeling here in 2021 and 2024," said a senior in Trinamool.

Although vehemently critical of Mamata’s alleged attempts to polarise society based on a linguistic sub-nationalism, the saffron ecosystem has so far appeared unsure of how this is going to impact the BJP electorally. Before this "Bengali-phobia" controversy took proper shape, even the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been seen falling over themselves to try and convince the people of the elusive state that their party does not lack a Bengal connect and does not exclusively represent the Sangh parivar’s Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan vision now.

"An attempt is being made to implement NRC by adding new names to the voter list and deleting old names. We cannot remain silent, protest if the names of valid voters are being deleted. Ask the BLO why the names are being deleted. This is our constitutional right. The names of all valid voters must be in the list," said the Trinamool chief.

"Minority migrant workers should ensure that their names are on the voter list. Try to stay here. All of you should come back, you will get work here. The Assam government has done a shameful thing by sending notices to the people of Bengal. I condemn them," she added.

"Bengal does not live at the mercy of anyone. Where were you (the saffron camp) during the freedom movement? Where were you when the great men and women of Bengal were fighting the British Raj? We will not tolerate this linguistic oppression. We will not accept this insult to the language of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. We will give our lives, but we will not tolerate disrespect.... The people of Bengal will not tolerate you."

"When the elections come, they come and make all sorts of promises... when the voting is over, the torture starts. They garner votes by making lofty claims, only to make people suffer. Bengal never bows its head. Bengal fights with its head held high," she said.

Her call for a popular uprising against the alleged othering and politically motivated marginalisation of the Bengali identity — a potentially emotive issue — is one that the saffron camp might struggle to counter.

"Whenever the Bengal electoral rivalry is given this dimension, Mamata enjoys an edge, as we are often found wanting. Hopefully, that will not happen again," said a source in the BJP.