“ Insulting”: Mamata On Delhi Police’s ‘Bangladeshi Language’ Notice, BJP Calls The Reaction ‘Misplaced’
Kolkata, August 4, 2025: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sparked a heated controversy by condemning a Delhi Police notice that referred to documents written in what it called the “Bangladeshi language.” In a fiery statement, Banerjee described the terminology as “scandalous, insulting, anti-national, and unconstitutional,” accusing the central government of degrading Bengali, a language she holds as sacred to India’s cultural and constitutional identity. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in response, has dismissed her reaction as “misplaced” and “dangerously inflammatory,” escalating tensions between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and the BJP-led central government.
The controversy stems from a notice issued on July 24, 2025 by the Station House Officer of Lodhi Colony Police Station, South District, New Delhi. The notice, addressed to the Officer-in-Charge of Banga Bhawan, requested a translator proficient in the “Bangladeshi national language” to assist in a case involving eight suspected Bangladeshi nationals arrested for residing illegally in India. The documents in question – National ID cards, birth certificates, and bank account details – required translation into Hindi and English to aid the investigation. The notice emphasised the urgency of the translation for court proceedings, promising to cover any associated costs.
Banerjee, in her statement, expressed outrage at the phrase “Bangladeshi language,” arguing it insulted Bengali, the mother tongue of millions of Indians and the language of luminaries like Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. She highlighted Bengali’s significance as the medium of India’s National Anthem and National Song, penned by Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, respectively. “This insults all Bengali-speaking people of India,” she declared, urging “the strongest possible protests” against what she called an “anti-Bengali Government of India.”
However, the BJP has sharply rebuffed Banerjee’s claims. Amit Malviya, the party’s IT Cell in-charge, clarified that the Delhi Police notice did not equate Bengali with a “Bangladeshi language.” He argued that the term was used to describe specific dialects and linguistic patterns distinct from the Bengali spoken in India, such as Sylheti, which he claimed is “nearly incomprehensible” to Indian Bengalis. Malviya accused Banerjee of misrepresenting the notice to incite linguistic conflict, going as far as to suggest that her remarks could warrant scrutiny under the National Security Act. “Mamata Banerjee’s reaction is not just misplaced, it is dangerously inflammatory,” he stated, adding that the police’s terminology was a practical measure to identify illegal immigrants, not a commentary on Bengali as a whole.
Malviya further contextualised the linguistic nuances, noting that Bengali, as an ethnic identifier, does not encompass the full range of dialects spoken in Bangladesh. He cited historical examples, such as the Sanskritised Bengali of Jana Gana Mana and the Sanskrit composition of Vande Mataram, to underscore the complexity of linguistic identities in the region. Dismissing Banerjee’s critique as ill-informed, he remarked, “Such nuances are clearly lost on the poorly lettered Mamata Banerjee.”
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin came out in support of Mamata Banerjee: “The Delhi Police, under the Union Home Ministry, has described Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language.” This is a direct insult to the very language in which our National Anthem was written.
Such statements are not inadvertent errors or slips. They expose the dark mindset of a regime that consistently undermines diversity and weaponises identity.
In the face of this assault on non-Hindi languages, Hon’ble Mamata Banerjee Didi stands as a shield for the language and people of West Bengal. She will not let this attack pass without a fitting response.”
