Bengal Chief Minister has once again slammed the BJP for victimising the migrant labourers from her State “only because they speak the Bengali language, which was once spoken by the likes of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda.”
Though she would not directly implicate the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the Union Home Ministry she said the Centre through its multiple agencies “may or may not have the inputs about what treatment is being dealt out to the Bengali workers — in the name of dealing with Bangladeshi infiltration — in the BJP-ruled States, but I would like to draw their attention in this regard.”
The immediate context of reference for Banerjee was an alleged detention of a few hundred “Bengali people” in Rajasthan. The Chief Minister on Tuesday told media persons in the State Assembly how “the same thing is happening repeatedly in all the BJP-ruled states every day. It is happening in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and other states, even today, I have reports that about 300 to 400 migrant labourers have been detained in Rajasthan though they were carrying their valid ID cards with them, so much for speaking Bengali?”
Banerjee said “Is this a crime to speak the language that was spoken by Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, should every person who speaks Bengali be treated as a Bangladeshi, should all Nepali speaking person will be treated as Nepalese and be pushed back, what is happening in this country, particularly the BJP-ruled States, I must remind these people that Bengal hosts more than 1.5 crore people who are from other States and earn their bread in this State, and we never insult them, we always show respect to them, so why the Bengali people will be insulted and harassed in other States like this, is it just because they speak Bengali?” She also expressed concern “at the way they have discontinued Bengali as an academic discipline in Delhi University, Bengali is one of the richest languages in the world and it is being marginalised.”
She said “I have asked Chief Secretary Manoj Panth to get in touch with the Rajasthan CS and take necessary action, or else I will also speak to that Government if need be, I also urge the BJP Governments to address this sensitive issue with care or else, I do not know what he thinks about the Bengalis, or I don’t know whether he has any inkling about this development, I will take it up with Prime Minister (Narendra Modi).”
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh too attacked the BJP saying how “they hate Bengalis and their culture, they should remember how erstwhile Calcutta — and now Kolkata is associated not only with India’s first Nobel Prize but six Nobel Prizes, and the first Oscar, Bengal has made the maximum sacrifice for Indian Independence, and now Bengal is being given the shabbiest treatment.”
Trinamool Congress MLA Mosaraff Hussein had earlier informed Banerjee about the alleged detention of several hundred people from Itahar in North Dinajpur district by Rajasthan Police.
“I have asked the people from Bengal not to go outside and fetch their jobs here but they go often in order to earn money, if they go around the country in search of jobs is it a crime, why should our people be harassed if we do not harass the people of other States.” Curiously while making her statement the Chief Minister tended to falter on one count saying “all the people who came to Bengal after 1971 are the citizens of this country” apparently letting the scope for a counter argument to be floated regarding the native origin of those who have indeed been detained in the so-called BJP ruled States.
“This means that she knows these people and is sure that they came to India after 1971, from where does this question of 1971 arise, how can she be so sure that these people were not living in India for generations, that is even before the Independence, this proves that there is something fishy about this,” a BJP MLA said.
Reacting sharply to Banerjee’s remarks State BJP Chief Whip Shankar Ghosh said, “it is Mamata Banerjee who is responsible for all what is happening with the Bengali workers in other States, it is she who has allowed the Rohingyas and Bangladeshis a free entry pass in India, which is why often even the innocent people are getting dragged into controversies, this is the reason why we have been asking for NRC to be implemented.”