Kolkata, 19 July

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday slammed the BJP government in Assam for “threatening” Bengali-speaking people in the northeastern state, who want to “peacefully coexist, respecting all languages and religions”.

Banerjee also asserted that the “divisive agenda” of the BJP in Assam has “crossed all limits”.

The TMC supremo has been accusing the Centre and the BJP-ruled states of systematically targeting Bengali-speaking migrants by branding them as “illegalBangladeshi” or ‘Rohingya’.

“The second most spoken language in the country, Bangla, is also the second most spoken language of Assam. To threaten citizens, who want to coexist peacefully respecting all languages and religions, with persecution for upholding their own mother tongue is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

“This divisive agenda of the BJP in Assam has crossed all limits and people of Assam will fight back. I stand with every fearless citizen who is fighting for the dignity of their language and identity, and their democratic rights,” she said in a post on X.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had alleged on Thursday that his West Bengal counterpart was only concerned about Bengali-speaking Muslims.

“The question is whether Mamata Banerjee likes Bengalis or only Muslim-Bengalis. My answer is only Muslim-Bengalis,” Sarma had said in Guwahati, responding to the Bengal CM’s recent accusation against the BJP of weaponising linguistic identity to achieve political goals.

“If she comes to Assam for the Muslim-Bengalis, the Assamese people and Hindu-Bengalis will not spare her,” he asserted.

Banerjee had also taken out a protest march in Kolkata on Wednesday against the alleged torture of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.