Kolkata, 4 August (H.S.) -West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee strongly condemned the Delhi Police for allegedly referring to Bengali as the “Bangladeshi national language” in an official letter. Terming it “insulting, anti-national, and unconstitutional,” Banerjee accused the Centre of attempting to demean the Bengali language and identity.

Sharing a copy of the controversial letter on her social media account, Banerjee claimed it was issued by an investigating officer from the Delhi Police in connection with a case under the Foreigners Act. The letter, reportedly addressed to Banga Bhawan—West Bengal government’s guest house in Delhi—sought assistance from a translator for the “Bangladeshi national language” following the arrest of eight suspected illegal immigrants.

“This is an outrageous insult to Bengali, the language of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, and one of the constitutionally recognized languages of India,” Banerjee said. “To call Bengali a foreign language is not just a mistake; it is a deliberate, anti-Constitutional attempt to demean the identity of crores of Bengali-speaking Indians.”

TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee also reacted sharply, posting the letter on social media and calling the reference a direct attack on Bengal’s cultural identity. “For months now, Bengali-speaking people have been harassed across BJP-ruled states. Now, Delhi Police has officially referred to Bangla as a Bangladeshi language. This is no clerical error—it is a calculated move to equate West Bengal with Bangladesh for narrow political ends,” he wrote.

He demanded the immediate suspension of Investigating Officer Amit Dutt and a public apology from the Delhi Police, the Union Home Ministry, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Bangla and Bengalis are Indians. Bangla is our pride. We will not allow our identity to be trampled,” he asserted.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh