Delhi Police's 'Bangladeshi National Language' Term an Attempt by BJP to Defame Bengal, Claims Abhishek Banerjee

PTI, KOLKATA, AUG 3, 2025 : Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday claimed that the "Bangladeshi national language" term written in a purported letter by an officer of Delhi Police, investigating a case under the Foreigners' Act, was a calculated attempt by the BJP to "defame Bengal".

Earlier in the day, the TMC posted a letter on its X handle, claiming that the police officer in charge of the investigation had written to the Banga Bhawan in the national capital, seeking a translator for "Bangladeshi national language" following the arrest of eight people suspected to have illegally crossed over into India from the neighbouring country.

Posting the purported letter on his social media handle, Banerjee claimed, "For months now, Bengali-speaking people have been targeted, harassed, and detained across BJP-ruled states. Now, in a shocking escalation, @DelhiPolice has officially referred to Bangla as a 'Bangladeshi language' in an official letter."

The authenticity of the purported letter has not been independently verified by PTI.

Maintaining that this is not a mere clerical error, Banerjee alleged, "It is yet another calculated attempt by the BJP to defame Bengal, undermine our cultural identity and equate West Bengal with Bangladesh for narrow political propaganda." He claimed that it was a direct violation of Article 343 and the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

"There is no language called Bangladeshi," he wrote on his social media handle. "To call Bangla a foreign language is not just an insult – it’s an attack on our identity, culture, and belonging. Bengalis are not outsiders in their own homeland," Banerjee claimed.

"This is why we call the BJP Bangla Birodhi (anti-Bengal) and zamindar. They do not respect India’s diversity. They thrive on division," the TMC national general secretary alleged.

Banerjee demanded the suspension of the Delhi Police officer. "We demand the immediate suspension of Investigating Officer Amit Dutt and a formal public apology from @DelhiPolice, @BJP4India, and the Home Ministry led by @AmitShah," he wrote.

He also asserted that "Bangla and Bengalis are Indians" and "Bangla is our pride". "We will not allow our identity to be trampled," Banerjee wrote.

Justifying the Delhi Police's action, pointing to "Bangladeshi language", BJP's West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya said that there is a distinctive difference in the dialect of the Bengali language spoken and written in West Bengal with that of Bangladesh.

He claimed that the police have rightly referred to the dialect spoken by the arrested persons as "Bangladeshi language".

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has launched a language movement claiming that migrant workers in the BJP-ruled states are being targeted and harassed for speaking Bengali.