Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday mounted a no-punches-pulled offensive on the saffron regime, accusing it of a prejudiced policy to harass and ill-treat Bengali-speaking Indians, and daring it to put her in a detention camp, where she pledged she would speak only in Bengali.

The chief minister, who led a rain-soaked protest march from College Square to the Dorina Crossing here in the afternoon against the BJP’s allegedly vicious Bengali-phobia, addressed a large gathering at the end, in which she said this wasn’t just an Emergency, but something more fearful, and asked whether the saffron ecosystem believed that Bengal wasn’t a part of India.

“I am most ashamed, saddened, also deeply pained by the actions of the BJP and their Union government. It issued a notification in February. We will challenge it. The Centre surreptitiously sent it to the BJP-ruled states. It says that if someone speaks Bengali and you suspect them, simply arrest them, and send them to detention camps,” alleged Mamata, before referring to a number of recent instances from Odisha, Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi, where Bengali Indians are purportedly being targeted.

Mamata Banerjee speaks at the Dorina Crossing, Esplanade in Calcutta, on Wednesday afternoon Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

“I saw the notification.... How can anyone be imprisoned without trial? What is this? You abuse Indira Gandhi, but what this is so much worse than even the Emergency. Illegal detention, illegal (policy). They do not even have the depth to understand this,” added the Trinamool chief. “This is no longer about governance alone, but a proper reign of terror....”

She vowed to speak increasingly in Bengali, going forward, daring the BJP to throw her in a detention camp.

“What right do they have to harass (Indian) Bengalis like this? Arresting them and forcefully pushing them into Bangladesh? Is West Bengal not part of India, according to them?” asked Mamata after the march, in which her nephew and heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee made a public appearance with her after a gap.

Mamata has been showing signs of making the saffron camp’s alleged prejudice against Bengal and Bengalis a major poll plank for the 2026 Assembly election. Sources in the BJP have admitted in private to strategy huddles looking to find an effective counterattack.

Wednesday’s march took place five days ahead of Trinamool’s biggest annual occasion, the July 21 Martyrs’ Day event at Esplanade. Mamata suggested she would go big with the issue from that dais, and announce a political roadmap to corner the saffron ecosystem on this.

“What have Bengalis done to you? Why such hatred? We gave India the Renaissance and numerous Nobel laureates, seventy per cent of the freedom fighters were from Bengal.... I can speak in whichever language I desire. Why are you torturing (Indian) Bengalis?” she asked.

“The BJP — you call (Indians) Bangladeshis — I challenge you... have some shame. Who controls the borders? The BSF. Whom do they report to? The Union home minister (Amit Shah). The CISF, the CRPF are all under the Centre. Even civil aviation and the railways are under the Centre. (Illegal immigration) is the Centre’s responsibility, not ours,” said the chief minister. “If you place our people in detention camps, the people of Bengal will keep the BJP in a political detention camp in the election.”

She warned against underestimating the might of Bengal, asserting that there are over 22 lakh migrant workers from Bengal with valid identity documents working across India and she would not tolerate their dishonour.

She underscored how nothing of the sort ever happens to over 1.5 crore Indians from other states, who live and work in Bengal.

“They are saying I want to turn Bengal into Bangladesh... the absurdity! How do I do that? Bangladesh is a separate country, and Bengal is a part of India.... the Rohingya are from Myanmar, also a separate country... I am here to always protect Bengal,” she said.

“Underestimate us at your own peril. Bengal will remain in our (Trinamool’s) control even in 2026, and after that, the INDIA bloc will fight to seize control of Delhi... do not take us lightly,” said the chief minister.

Mamata again accused the Election Commission of India of being compromised under the saffron rule, alleging that the BJP was maliciously influencing the supposedly autonomous custodian of elections to achieve its electoral aspirations in states where it finds itself weak. She brought up the contentious special intensive revision.

“They spectacularly failed in the 400-plus project (in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls). Now they are saying only the BJP will vote and are removing all names.... The EC is filled with BJP people... (chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar) was once a secretary of Amit Shah. There are no impartial people,” she said.

“When the electoral roll revision happens, you must ensure your name is in there... let’s see how many of us they can throw into detention camps. If they do this with Hindi speakers, I will stand by them as well.... They are selectively targeting Muslims,” said Mamata, adding that plans are afoot to remove 35 lakh voters in Bihar to replicate an alleged model by the BJP-EC nexus to ensure saffron wins in Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.

“Khela hobe (the game is on)! I am here in Bengal. But if you disturb me, I will travel the whole country. Let us see you throw me in a detention camp. There too, I will speak in Bengali.... A wounded tiger is far more dangerous than a healthy one, and Bengal is now a wounded tiger,” Mamata told the crowd.

The BJP responded to the chief minister with derision.

BJP state unit chief Samik Bhattacharya said: “Mamata Banerjee and her party are resorting to a vehement Bengali regionalism. Such an attitude will only affect the state.”

“She is trying to push a false narrative that Bengalis are being harassed in other states. It is not the Bengalis but infiltrators whom her government has provided Indian identity proofs,” he alleged. “The chief minister and Trinamool are not bothered about the residents of Bengal, but only about their vote-bank, which comprises Bangladeshi infiltrators and the Rohingya.”