‘No language called Bengali’—TMC dubs Amit Malviya’s remarks ‘linguistic apartheid’

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has launched a strong attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its IT cell chief Amit Malviya claimed on social media that “there is, in fact, no language called Bengali.”

The remark came amid controversy over the alleged profiling of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Delhi, where Delhi Police reportedly dismissed Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language.”

Malviya had written: “There is, in fact, no language called ‘Bengali’ that neatly covers all these variants. ‘Bengali’ denotes ethnicity, not linguistic uniformity. So, when the Delhi Police uses ‘Bangladeshi language,’ it is a shorthand for the linguistic markers used to profile illegal immigrants from Bangladesh—not a commentary on Bengali as spoken in West Bengal.”

The backlash was swift. TMC termed the remark as “linguistic apartheid” and an attack on Constitutional values, pointing out that Bengali is a constitutionally recognised language and the second-most spoken in the country.

Posting on X, TMC stated: “There is, in fact, no language called Bengali — This shocking justification by @BJP4India-run institutions while profiling Bengali migrant workers reflects the regime’s deep-rooted hostility towards the Bengali identity. Denying the existence of a constitutionally recognised language is nothing short of linguistic apartheid. BJP is systematically promoting xenophobia and othering, with Bengalis being deliberately targeted across states. Such dangerous narratives must be condemned and resisted at every level.”

TMC leader and state Cabinet minister Shashi Panja said the remark was a “deliberate and calculated attempt to insult and marginalise Bengalis.”

“The BJP is threatened by Bengal. By its intellect. By its spine. By its refusal to bow down. And so, they try to delegitimise our language, our people, and our very existence,” she said.

Trinamool youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya questioned the understanding of the language’s heritage, stating: “Languages are not confined by borders and are spoken across regions.”

Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh referred to the historic February 21 language movement in Bangladesh and said: “There is no language called Bangladeshi. When two lines are written in Bengali on a teleprompter for the Prime Minister to recite, what language is that?”

In support of TMC, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and INDIA Bloc ally MK Stalin also condemned the language remark.

In a post on X, he wrote: “The Delhi Police, under the Union Home Ministry, has described Bengali as a ‘Bangladeshi language’. This is a direct insult to the very language in which our National Anthem was written. Such statements are not inadvertent errors or slips. They expose the dark mindset of a regime that consistently undermines diversity and weaponises identity.”

He added that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee stands as “a shield” for the language and people of Bengal.

The remarks have also sparked widespread outrage among Bengalis on social media, with users across platforms strongly criticising the statements and defending the cultural and constitutional status of the Bengali language. Many have called the remarks offensive and demanded a public apology.

Bengali artists also joined the chorus of condemnation. Film director Srijit Mukherji posted on X: “That’s not Bangladeshi language, morons, that’s Bangla or Bengali, the same language in which your national anthem was originally written and one of the 22 official languages of India.”

Meanwhile, TMC claimed that 60 migrant workers from West Bengal’s South Dinajpur district returned from Delhi after alleged torture for speaking in Bangla. The party accused Delhi Police of beating and extorting the workers, demanding bribes of Rs 5–7 lakh. It termed the incident a “hate-driven crackdown on the Bengali identity.”