Mamata Banerjee Leads Protest Against Alleged Harassment of Bengali Migrants, Challenges BJP Over Rohingya Allegations

Kolkata, July 16: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led NDA government over what she described as the systematic harassment of Bengali-speaking individuals in states ruled by the alliance. She accused the Centre of wrongfully targeting migrant workers and challenged the BJP to prove its claim that they were illegal immigrants or Rohingyas.

“I challenge you to prove that Bengali-speaking people are Rohingyas,” Banerjee said while addressing a large public protest march in Kolkata. The Chief Minister, accompanied by Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and senior party leaders, led the march from College Square to Dorina Crossing in Dharmatala. The demonstration, which drew thousands of TMC supporters, was aimed at denouncing recent detentions and deportations of alleged “Bengali migrant workers” to Bangladesh.

The protest came just a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the state, adding political weight to the demonstration. Traffic disruptions were reported across central Kolkata, as nearly 1,500 police personnel were deployed along the 3-kilometre route to ensure security and manage crowd control.

The TMC chief further accused the BJP of manipulating electoral rolls in several states. “They won Maharashtra by removing names from the voters’ list and are attempting the same in Bihar. We will not allow them to do this in Bengal. We will resist them inch by inch,” Banerjee declared. She alleged that the party was planning to exclude genuine voters in West Bengal under the pretext of identifying illegal immigrants.

According to Banerjee, over 22 lakh migrant workers from West Bengal are currently employed across various Indian states, all of whom possess valid identity documentation.

Meanwhile, in a counter move, BJP’s Leader of the Opposition in Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, along with 50 party MLAs, met with officials at the Election Commission office. They demanded the removal of what they claimed were “Rohingya” names from Bengal’s voters’ list.

The TMC’s protest is part of a broader campaign to consolidate regional identity and push back against what the party sees as discriminatory practices. The party highlighted a series of recent incidents—including the detention of Bengali migrant workers in Odisha, eviction drives targeting Bengali-speaking residents in Delhi, and a Foreigners’ Tribunal notice served to a farmer in Assam’s Cooch Behar—as signs of growing linguistic and regional bias.

As West Bengal heads into assembly elections next year, the TMC appears poised to sharpen its focus on protecting the rights and dignity of Bengali-speaking citizens, making identity politics a key pillar of its electoral strategy.