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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spearheaded a large protest march in Kolkata on Wednesday, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting Bengali-speaking individuals in various BJP-governed states. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief claimed the Centre was systematically harassing Bengalis through linguistic profiling, eviction drives, and illegal detention.

Thousands joined the protest, which began at College Square around 1:45 pm and culminated at Dorina Crossing in Dharmatala. The nearly 3-kilometre-long route was heavily guarded, with approximately 1,500 police personnel deployed along the barricaded roads and nearby buildings. Traffic diversions were in place across major routes in central Kolkata, news agency PTI reported.

Bengal is the land of Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Swami Vivekananda.

We have always shown the way forward for the nation, standing tall for what is just and right.

And when the rights and dignity of our people come under attack, we will rise in… pic.twitter.com/5uarKDE109

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 16, 2025

TMC MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also participated in the march, along with other senior leaders. Similar demonstrations were reportedly held in district headquarters across the state. The protest took place a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Bengal.

“Prove Bengali Migrants Are Rohingya”: Mamata Challenges BJP

Addressing the gathering, Mamata Banerjee expressed outrage at the BJP’s approach towards Bengalis. “I challenge you to prove that Bengali-speaking migrants are Rohingya Muslims,” she said, directly targeting the saffron party.

She asserted that over 22 lakh migrant workers from West Bengal were employed in other parts of the country and all of them possessed valid identity documents.

The Chief Minister further alleged, “BJP won in Maharashtra by removing names from electoral rolls, it is doing same in Bihar now.” She claimed similar tactics were being planned in West Bengal, warning, “BJP has plans to remove names from Bengal’s electoral rolls, we will fight them inch by inch.”

VIDEO | "We will oppose it tooth and nail if the Election Commission calls for an electoral roll revision in Bengal ahead of the assembly polls," says West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial), addressing a public gathering while leading a protest march against the… pic.twitter.com/1xRDUZrAyL

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 16, 2025

“We will oppose it tooth and nail if the Election Commission calls for an electoral roll revision in Bengal ahead of the assembly polls,” she remarked, as quoted by PTI

“If the BJP sends Bengali-speaking people to detention camps, Bengal will politically detain it in polls,” she added.

The West Bengal Chief Minister vowed to challenge the Union government notices sent to BJP-ruled states "surreptitiously to harass Bengali-speaking people".

TMC Aims to Strike Emotional Chord Ahead of Elections

The demonstrations mark a rare prelude to the TMC’s annual Shahid Dibas event on July 21, as the party typically avoids major public mobilisations in the run-up. However, recent developments—including the detention of Bengali-speaking workers in Odisha, eviction operations in Delhi, and a foreigners’ tribunal notice to a farmer in Assam’s Cooch Behar—appear to have triggered an aggressive shift in strategy.

According to PTI, the protest offers a preview of TMC’s campaign narrative for the upcoming assembly elections next year, with a clear emphasis on identity politics and grassroots outreach.

BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari Hits Back, Questions Mamata’s Priorities

Reacting to the protests, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari accused the TMC of using Bengali identity politics to obscure the issue of alleged illegal immigrants. He claimed the movement was aimed at shielding Bengali-speaking Rohingyas and Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Suvendu also questioned Mamata’s silence over the plight of thousands of Bengali-speaking teachers who lost their jobs due to corruption. “Why has she turned a deaf ear to the cries of exasperation of thousands of Bengali-speaking teachers in the state who lost their jobs on account of institutional corruption?” he asked, as per PTI.

He further alleged regional bias in top bureaucratic appointments. Referring to recent postings, he said, “Why were Atri Bhattacharya and Subrata Gupta, two Bengali officers, denied the position of state chief secretary and offered to Manoj Pant, despite the latter being junior to the former two bureaucrats?” He also questioned why Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, the senior-most IPS officer, was overlooked for the post of DGP in favour of Rajiv Kumar, an out-of-state junior.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Suvendu alleged, "Mamata Banerjee has come out on the streets to provide security to Rohingya Muslims. BJP MLAs have only one demand that the name of any Rohingya Muslim will not be there in the voter list of Bengal. There is no fencing in the area of 540 kilometers. Mamata Banerjee has not given land to the Home Department. Mamata Banerjee is getting fake Aadhar cards and fake EPIC cards made. And there are at least one crore Rohingya Muslims in the entire voter list. Thirty lakh names were deleted in Bihar."

"There must be at least ninety lakh here...All Indian names will remain, but Rohingya Muslim names will not remain in the voters' list," he remarked.

#WATCH | Kolkata: West Bengal LoP and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari says, "Mamata Banerjee has come out on the streets to provide security to Rohingya Muslims. BJP MLAs have only one demand that the name of any Rohingya Muslim will not be there in the voter list of Bengal. There is… pic.twitter.com/FpxxhTVYTV

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2025

Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who was also part of the protest, dismissed Adhikari’s remarks, saying, “Adhikari is saying such things to please his bosses in Delhi. His tactic will not work here.”