Mamata Slams Delhi Police For Use Of ‘Bangladeshi Language’ Phrase While Seeking Assistance To Translate Documents; BJP Hits Back

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday (3 August) lashed out at Delhi Police for referring to Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language” in an official letter. 

Describing the move as “scandalous, insulting, anti-national, and unconstitutional,” she demanded accountability and shared the controversial letter on the social media platform X.

The letter, purportedly sent by Delhi Police to Banga Bhawan, West Bengal’s state guest house in the capital, requested assistance in translating documents written in “Bangladeshi language” for eight individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

While the authenticity of the letter has not been verified and the Delhi Police has yet to issue a clarification.

“Bengali, our mother tongue, the language of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, the language in which our National Anthem and the National Song (the latter by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay) are written, the language in which crores of Indians speak and write, the language which is sanctified and recognised by the Constitution of India, is now described as a Bangladeshi language!!” Banerjee wrote on X.

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TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee demanded an apology from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, under whose ministry the Delhi Police operates, the Hindustan Times reported. 

He called the letter “a shocking escalation,” claiming that “for months now, Bengali-speaking people have been targeted, harassed and detained across BJP-ruled states.”

TMC MP Mahua Moitra also condemned the move, stating, “To call [Bangla] a Bangladeshi language on official documentation is a calculated action. We demand an unconditional apology from the Delhi Police."

Several Bengali artists also voiced outrage. Filmmaker Srijit Mukherji posted: “That's not Bangladeshi language… that's Bangla or Bengali — the same language in which your national anthem was originally written.”

Singer Surojit Chatterjee wrote, “Exactly the kind of ignorance I expect from the people responsible.”

Responding to the backlash, BJP’s Amit Malviya accused Mamata Banerjee of “spreading misinformation for vote-bank politics,” calling her remarks “a badly scripted political stunt.”

In a post on X, he wrote, "....Delhi Police is absolutely right in referring to the language as Bangladeshi in the context of identifying infiltrators. The term is being 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....."

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya alleged the TMC was using fear-mongering to “shield” illegal immigrants.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee Is Wrong: Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants Are Not Bengalis