How West Bengal is pushing back against BJP’s Bangladeshi infiltration narrative

A similar expression through script is now set to become a fashion statement during the upcoming Durga Puja, if weavers from Shantipur and Phulia, two major handloom saree hubs in the state, are to be believed. They say demand has risen this year for saree designs featuring Bengali script or lines from Bengali poetry and songs.

“The demand for sarees with Bengali script in the design has soared this time. We are even receiving such orders from abroad,” said Padma Shri-awardee weaver Biren Basak. Beyond these creative expressions, protest rallies and processions have filled streets across the state, echoing with verses from Bengali poems often steeped in nationalist sentiment, evoking nostalgic memories among the elders about past language movements.

“It is disheartening to hear the news about Bengali-speaking people are being othered in parts of India because of their language. I can relate to the underlying passion behind the ongoing protests in West Bengal, as it echoes the emotional spirit of the historic language movement,” said a former member of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU), who was a school student during the 1952 language movement in then-East Bengal.

He preferred to remain anonymous, stating it would be inappropriate to publicly comment on a “sensitive internal matter” of a neighbouring country. “It would however be wrong to compare the two scenarios beyond the emotional quotient, as their context and premise are entirely different,” he added.

The basis of the comparison, of course, stems from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s call for a “second-language movement,” invoking the legacy of past language struggles. “If speaking Bengali is a crime, then arrest me first,” she declared during a massive rally in Kolkata last month.

At the heart of the current mobilisation is the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in BJP-ruled states like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, and Odisha under the pretext of identifying and expelling illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Also read: Eviction drives in Assam’s Golaghat leave migrant Muslim families pushed to a corner

Banerjee was quick to characterise the drive as “linguistic persecution,” underscoring the linguistic identity of those affected. The characterisation gained further traction after a Delhi police station, in an official notice, referred to Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language,” and BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya controversially claimed that there is no language called Bengali.

In 1952, in what was then East Pakistan, students and activists laid down their lives demanding recognition of Bengali as an official language. The movement reached its climax on February 21, when police opened fire on students of Dhaka University and other activists, killing at least seven people. In their memory, the day is now observed as International Mother Language Day. 

Two decades later, another movement erupted in Assam’s Barak Valley over imposition of Assamese language in the Bengali-dominated region of the state. The agitation culminated in the killing of 11 demonstrators in Silchar on May 19, 1961.

“Those were battles for the right to speak, write, and be educated in one’s mother tongue, a right that had been taken away. But this time, there is no state-imposed linguistic suppression. The Bengali language, per se, is not under siege,” observed Sukharanjan Dasgupta, a veteran columnist and author who has written extensively on the language movement in the Barak Valley.

In contrast, the current agitation in West Bengal is triggered by harassment, detention, and discrimination of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states. Despite possessing valid documents such as Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and voter IDs, they are branded as “illegal migrants” or “Bangladeshis.”

The chief minister’s concerns are not unfounded. Personal accounts from workers speak of night raids, wrongful detentions and even forceful “deportation” to Bangladesh without due process. These are serious matters concerning migrant welfare, inter-state relations, and possibly even human rights. But they do not amount to a denial of linguistic rights in the traditional sense.

Also read: How DDA’s slum rehabilitation flats failed the poor, displaced families in Delhi

“What’s happening now is not just about our language. It’s about respect. It’s about being treated as equals,” said Mosarekul Anwar, a protester in Malda. “When our boys go to work in Gujarat or Rajasthan and are beaten up just for speaking Bengali, this becomes a matter of survival, not speech.” Behind the rhetoric of cultural pride lies a deeper anxiety rooted in economic dislocation, pointed out Anwar, who works with the victims of Ganga erosion.

Over the past decade, thousands of Bengali youths have migrated to other states in search of work, driven by lack of industrial growth and limited opportunities at home. The state government’s conservative estimate places the number at around 22 lakh. Their sudden visibility in unfamiliar cities has made them scapegoats of politics over illegal migrants of the BJP and its associate organisations to target minorities.

BJP leaders have long politicised the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration into West Bengal, painting a picture of demographic imbalance and national security threat. “This time, they have taken the issue beyond the boundaries of the state, weaving together two overlapping socio-political narratives. First, the growing focus on migrant labourers seeks to highlight the fact that a large number of people from Bengal are forced to seek work in other states, particularly those governed by the BJP. Second, since a significant portion of these migrant workers are Muslim, it allows the BJP to portray Bengal as an “exporter” of Muslim infiltrators to the rest of the country,” noted political analyst Amal Sarkar.

These narratives often blur the line between Indian Bengalis and undocumented immigrants, resulting in suspicion and hostility towards anyone speaking the language outside its native state. But now, that very strategy seems to be faltering.

“By branding every Bengali-speaker as an ‘outsider’ or a ‘Bangladeshi,’ the right-wing ecosystem has risked alienating an entire linguistic community,” said Anwar. “What we are seeing is a backlash not just against the violence, but against years of manufactured othering.”