Mamata to lead protest on July 16 against targeting of Bengali migrants

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will lead a protest rally in Kolkata on July 16 in response to what the Trinamool Congress described as the continued targeting of migrants from the State in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States. The party will simultaneously organise demonstrations across West Bengal on the same day.

“If the Bengali language is insulted, if a Bengali is called Bangladeshi, it will not be tolerated at all. We will take to the streets under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee,” senior Trinamool leader and Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Sunday (July 13, 2025).

The announcement assumes significance as the Trinamool Congress typically refrains from holding major programmes in the lead-up to its annual Martyrs’ Day Rally on July 21. However, recent reports of alleged mistreatment of Bengali-speaking migrants in Odisha, Delhi, and Maharashtra appear to have prompted the party to initiate this protest mobilisation.

The ruling party in West Bengal stated that the protest was not merely political but a broader campaign to safeguard the “culture, identity, and honour” of the State. Trinamool MPs Sagarika Ghosh and Saket Gokhale visited Jai Hind Colony in Delhi on Sunday, where concerns had reportedly been raised over the treatment of Bengali migrants.

Chief Minister Banerjee, over the past few weeks, has repeatedly condemned what she described as attempts to label Bengali-speaking individuals as “outsiders” or “Bangladeshis”. “Speaking in Bengali does not make a person Bangladeshi,” she has asserted, adding that Bengali is a constitutionally recognised language and that every citizen has the right to speak in their native tongue.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam drew attention to the case of Arati Ghosh, a 52-year-old woman from Boxirhat in Cooch Behar district, who was reportedly labelled a foreigner and excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. According to Mr. Islam, Ms. Ghosh had to leave her in-laws’ home in Assam and return to West Bengal.

“I want to raise some questions for the anti-Bengali BJP leadership, who often dare to claim their love and respect for Bengal — a claim that is nothing but a vile falsehood,” Mr. Islam said.