West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made a scathing accusation against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, claiming that Indian citizens are being labeled as Bangladeshis and forcibly pushed into Bangladesh simply for speaking Bengali. In an address to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday, June 16, 2025, Mamata alleged that Bengali speakers, even with valid Indian identity documents, are being wrongfully identified and expelled in a growing trend that she condemned as both discriminatory and shameful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a report by Anandabazar Patrika<\/em>, the Chief Minister expressed outrage over recent incidents where Indian migrant workers in Maharashtra were detained by local authorities on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants solely because they spoke Bengali. Despite possessing Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, and other valid identification, the individuals were allegedly deported through the Indo-Bangladesh border. \u201cSpeaking in Bengali is now being used as a reason to declare someone a Bangladeshi,\u201d Mamata said in the Assembly. \u201cThey are being pushed into Bangladesh. Don\u2019t you feel ashamed? Even with all proper documents, this is what the BJP government in Maharashtra is doing. I condemn it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her comments come amid a reported surge in border pushbacks from India to Bangladesh. Between May 7 and June 3, 2025, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) recorded at least 1,244 individuals pushed into Bangladeshi territory. Despite several flag meetings between the two border forces and ongoing diplomatic engagement, the trend has not been curbed. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Adviser to Bangladesh\u2019s Interim Home Ministry, stated that the Indian High Commission had been requested to repatriate Bangladeshi citizens through formal diplomatic procedures rather than unilateral push-ins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a recent case that drew widespread attention, three migrant laborers from West Bengal working in Maharashtra were apprehended by Mumbai Police on suspicion of being illegal migrants. They were allegedly transported to the Indo-Bangladesh border and expelled into Bangladesh. The West Bengal Migrant Worker Development Board later identified them as legitimate Indian citizens\u2014two from Murshidabad and one from East Bardhaman. Following efforts by the state administration and a flag meeting with border officials, the trio was brought back to India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Samirul Islam, Chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Worker Development Board, confirmed the return of the individuals and posted their details on social media. He stressed that all three were residents of West Bengal and criticized the profiling and mistreatment of Bengali-speaking laborers across India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue has further strained intergovernmental relations and raised human rights concerns. Mamata Banerjee\u2019s forceful remarks in the Assembly reflect broader anxieties among Bengali-speaking communities across India, who fear being stigmatized or persecuted based on language and regional identity. As the controversy grows, civil society and rights organizations are calling for a transparent investigation into the practice of pushbacks and urging the central government to ensure constitutional protections for all Indian citizens\u2014regardless of the language they speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made a scathing accusation against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, claiming that Indian citizens are being labeled as Bangladeshis and forcibly pushed into Bangladesh simply for speaking Bengali. In an address to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday, June 16, 2025, Mamata alleged that Bengali […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6264,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257\/revisions\/6264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}