West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the BJP-led Assam government of harassing Bengali-speaking residents in the stat
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KOLKATA — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the BJP-led Assam government of harassing Bengali-speaking residents in the state, calling the alleged targeting of a linguistic community “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”
In a statement posted on her official X handle, Mamata wrote, “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.”
She said the BJP’s “divisive agenda” in Assam had “crossed all limits,” and expressed confidence that the people of Assam would resist such measures.
“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,” Mamata added.
Responding sharply, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma rejected Mamata’s charges, saying the state’s actions were not against its own people but against unchecked illegal infiltration from across the border.
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“In Assam, we are not fighting our own people. We are fearlessly resisting the ongoing, unchecked Muslim infiltration from across the border, which has already caused an alarming demographic shift. In several districts, Hindus are now on the verge of becoming a minority in their own land,” Sarma replied to Mamata on X.
Citing a Supreme Court observation that termed such infiltration “external aggression,” Sarma said, “While we are acting decisively to preserve Assam’s identity, you, Didi, have compromised Bengal’s future -- encouraging illegal encroachment by a particular community, appeasing one religious community for vote banks, and remaining silent as border infiltration eats away at national integrity -- all just to stay in power.”
He said Assam will continue to fight to preserve its heritage, its dignity, and its people -- with courage and constitutional clarity.
The exchange on X came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Durgapur, West Bengal, accused the Trinamool Congress government of making the lives of “original Bengalis” miserable by allegedly encouraging illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.
“The illegal infiltrators are being provided with fake Indian identity documents. An entire ecosystem has been developed in West Bengal to facilitate infiltration. These infiltrators are a threat to national security and Bengali culture,” the Prime Minister had said, accusing the state government of putting the state’s honour at stake for narrow political gains.