Kolkata, Aug 4 BJP’s Information Technology cell chief Amit Malviya on Monday accused the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of “inciting linguistic conflict” through her false narratives, accusing Delhi Police of referring to “Bengali” as a "Bangladeshi language".
Malviya’s reaction on Monday morning came in response to two social media statements issued on Sunday evening, one by Mamata Banerjee and the other by her nephew and Trinamool Congress’s general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, accusing the BJP of a letter from Delhi Police allegedly referring to Bengali as a "Bangladeshi language".
In a counter social media statement posted on Monday morning, Malviya claimed that Mamata Banerjee’s reaction to Delhi Police referring to the language used by infiltrators as ‘Bangladeshi’ is not just misplaced, it is dangerously inflammatory.
“Nowhere in the Delhi Police letter is Bangla or Bengali described as a ‘Bangladeshi’ language. To claim otherwise and call upon Bengalis to rise against the Centre is deeply irresponsible. Mamata Banerjee should be held accountable—perhaps even under the National Security Act—for inciting linguistic conflict,” the counter-statement from Malviya read.
Malviya, also the BJP’s central observer for West Bengal also gave a detailed explanation in support of his counter-argument.
Malviya claimed that the Delhi Police was right in referring to the language as “Bangladeshi” in the context of identifying infiltrators. According to him, the term was used to describe a set of dialects, syntax, and speech patterns that are distinctly different from the Bangla spoken in India.
“The official language of Bangladesh is not only phonologically different, but also includes dialects like Sylheti that are nearly incomprehensible to Indian Bengalis,” claimed Malviya.
According to him, in reality, there was no language called “Bengali” that neatly covered all these variants, since “Bengali” denoted ethnicity, not linguistic uniformity.
“So when the Delhi Police uses 'Bangladeshi language' it is a shorthand for the linguistic markers used to profile illegal immigrants from Bangladesh—not a commentary on Bengali as spoken in West Bengal,” Malviya explained.
He had also cited literary examples to justify his counter-argument.
“For context, Ananda Math was written in Bangla of the era, against the backdrop of the Sanyasi Rebellion. The iconic Vande Mataram was composed separately, in Sanskrit, and later grafted into the novel. Jana Gana Mana, originally composed and sung as a Brahmo hymn, was written in Sanskritised Bangla. Such nuances are lost on the poorly lettered Mamata Banerjee,” Malviya added.
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