Family from Bengal detained in Delhi, deported to B’desh: TMC

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi-led Central government, alleging that a Bengali-speaking family from Birbhum, including a minor child, was wrongfully detained in Delhi and deported to Bangladesh after being labelled “illegal Bangladeshis”.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier accused the Centre and BJP-ruled states of targeting Bengali-speaking migrants under the guise of identifying illegal immigrants. She alleged that hundreds of Bengalis were being detained and deported without due process.

“Is it a crime to speak in Bangla, the language of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda among other luminaries? I think Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not aware of this development but I will ensure he gets to know.” Banerjee had said.

Quoting a report published in a national English daily, the TMC claimed that the family, despite being Indian citizens, was taken from their home in Khajuri Khas, Delhi, by Delhi Police to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) and then deported through the Petrapole-Benapole border.

In a strongly-worded post on X, the party said: “Speaking the language of Tagore, Nazrul, Netaji, and Vivekananda is now a CRIME in @narendramodi’s India. A Bengali family from Birbhum, including a minor child, was wrongfully detained in Delhi, labelled as ‘illegal Bangladeshis,’ and forcefully pushed across the border. From Gujarat to Maharashtra, Odisha to Madhya Pradesh, Bengalis are being HUNTED, HARASSED, and HOUNDED OUT. Let this be a warning that if @BJP4India comes to power in Bengal, our language will be criminalised, our people will be branded foreigners, and our soil will be seized by Bangla-Birodhi Zamindars. REJECT THEM BEFORE THEY ERASE US.”

The incident has sparked political uproar in Bengal, with the TMC warning that if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes to power in the state, the Bengali language and identity could be under threat.

This case follows similar incidents in June when at least four men from Bengal were detained in Maharashtra and later deported to Bangladesh. Among them was a couple from Bagdah in North 24-Parganas who had Indian identity papers and had never been to Bangladesh, according to their families.

Following protests, the Bengal government intervened. The Bagdah couple and five others were brought back to India through the Petrapole border after a flag meeting between Indian and Bangladeshi authorities. The state’s Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board facilitated their return.

The BJP has denied the allegations, maintaining that only undocumented foreigners are subject to deportation.

Accusing the BJP of ‘playing politics’ over language, Mamata Banerjee had earlier stated: “What is happening here? India is a diverse country where people speak many languages. These people are residents of West Bengal and Bengal is a state of India. They have valid identity documents. Yet they are being treated as foreigners and deported or jailed. This is unacceptable. Just because someone speaks Bengali, does that make them Bangladeshi? Many people in Bangladesh speak Bengali and so do people in Bengal, it is our mother tongue. How can you equate a language with nationality?” Claiming that apart from Rajasthan, such incidents also took place in BJP-ruled Delhi and Madhya Pradesh in the past, Banerjee who is the chairperson of Trinamool Congress said: “This is not an isolated case. We have received multiple complaints like this in recent times and we are already investigating them. Today again, we got a similar report. People from Bengal go to other states to work because of their skills and diligence. Now they are being targeted for simply speaking in Bengali.”