Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday tore into the saffron regime over the alleged linguistic apartheid fuelled by their alleged "Bengali-phobia" and attempts at "backdoor NRC" under the "compromised" poll panel, asserting there could be no India without Bengali.

The chief minister, on a visit to flood-hit areas of Hooghly and West Midnapore, repeated that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission of India was a "conspiracy to disenfranchise" the poor and the marginalised, who she said were unlikely to vote for the BJP.

" This (SIR) has been planned by the BJP-led Centre, in connivance with the Election Commission. We do not, at all, agree with it,” said Mamata, asserting she would not accept any attempt to replicate the EC's Bihar SIR model in Bengal ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

"People practising all faiths will suffer if the SIR is allowed. All this is part of a wider conspiracy for the persecution of Bengal and Bengalis...," added the Trinamool chief who dubbed the SIR "backdoor NRC".

Mamata and Trinamool have taken strong exception — echoed by many INDIA constituents — to Bengali being labelled “Bangladeshi language” by Delhi police under Union home minister Amit Shah. Publicly, the BJP has tried to brazen it out. But BJP sources have privately admitted to this being ammunition served on a platter to Mamata.

On Tuesday, Mamata said Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose spoke in Bengali.

"Swamiji used to speak in Bengali, and now they say there is no language called Bengali.... For protesting such outrage, it is said I should be arrested under the National Security Act. Let them try," she added. "There is no India without Bengali... no world without Bengali. Don't toy with Bengali, don't attempt disrespect...," she said.

Mamata was referring to the BJP's IT cell chief and Bengal co-minder, Amit Malviya, who recently claimed there was “no language called ‘Bengali’” and the Sylheti dialect — spoken widely in northeastern India — was “nearly incomprehensible to Indian Bengalis”.

Fresh Assam notice

The pradhan (head) of a panchayat in Cooch Behar has been issued a notice by the foreigners’ tribunal of Nalbari, Assam, to validate the documents of a villager under her jurisdiction.

Binama Barman, the head of Hajrahat-II panchayat of Mathabhanga subdivision, has been asked to appear before the tribunal on August 27.Binama has to validate the documents of Minati, aka Minali Roy, who got married in Assam around 40 years ago. In 2015, Minati got an NRC notice asking for proof of her Indian citizenship.

She submitted documents issued by Hajrahat-II panchayat before the tribunal to prove her Indian citizenship. Now, Binama has been asked to appear before the tribunal with records to validate that the documents Minati submitted were original and correct. Contacted, Binama said she had not yet received the notice.

Additional reporting by Main Uddin Chisti in Cooch Behar