Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday advised the BJP, albeit without naming the party, to love and understand Bengal first before dreaming of capturing the state, reminding them that its soil could not be seized by force or by insulting its language, culture, and people.

“One must first love Bengal. One must first understand Bengal, know Bengal and only then can one even think of capturing it,” Mamata said at an event celebrating the International Mother Language Day here in Calcutta.

Mamata used the dais to mount an attack on the BJP, claiming that it had always insulted the people of Bengal and attempted to interfere with their food habits and even barring them from speaking in Bengali.

Indicating the BJP with only a pronoun, she questioned its “anti-Bengal” culture.

She questioned what the BJP would do in Bengal when they were against the entire community.

“Those who do not know Bengal, who do not understand it—what will they do here?” Mamata asked.

“Will you stop people from eating fish? Stop them from eating meat? Will you ban wearing saris? Will you decide what people should wear? Will you decide which language they should speak?” the Bengal chief minister asked.

In poll-bound Bengal, Mamata also took up the issue of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which her party has raised as an issue against the BJP and the allegedly compromised Election Commission of India.

“We will not tolerate the insult of Bengal. Today, Bengal is under attack! What is the hurry? Why are you trying to exclude the people of Bengal from their voting rights?” Mamata questioned.

However, the chief minister did not make any comment on Friday’s Supreme Court verdict ordering the appointment of serving and retired judicial officers to lead the
SIR process.

She claimed that not only the common people of Bengal, but even luminaries who had played unique and significant roles in the Renaissance and the freedom struggle of India had not been spared from being insulted.

She asked why the BJP had insulted Bengal polymaths one after another, such as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda and Sri
Ramakrishna.

Mamata urged the people of the state to unite to fight against what she described as a growing dictatorship in the country.

“Across the country, a kind of authoritarianism is spreading. That is why, on the 21st of February, I say: unite, prepare yourselves. Stand against dictatorship,” Mamata said, asserting that Bengal would retain its honour and identity and not be captured by force.

“The rights of people cannot be snatched by force. Remember, Bengal can tolerate everything but will not bow down,” she said. “We do not bow before Delhi’s favourites. Bengal cannot be captured by coming from Delhi."

The International Mother Language Day, established by Unesco in 1999, is a tribute to the 1952 Language Movement in Bangladesh (East Pakistan then), where students sacrificed their lives for the Bengali language.