Ready to lay down my life but won’t let anyone snatch my language, says Mamata

Kolkata: Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday while launching the statewide ‘Bhasha Andolan’ (Language Movement) from Bolpur, made strong assertion that her government will not allow the Centre to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bengal as long as she is alive.

Accusing the BJP of trying to erase Bengali identity, Banerjee also made it clear that she would never allow detention camps to be built here in Bengal. “I will not allow NRC to be implemented in Bengal as long as I am alive. I am ready to lay down my life if required, but I will not let anybody snatch my language. I won’t allow detention camps here,” Banerjee said. She started the language movement from the land of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

She led a massive rally, a 3-km long protest march from the Tourist Lodge Crossing to Jamboni bus stand.

Senior Cabinet colleagues, senior party leaders and local elected representatives were seen accompanying Banerjee in her protest march. Many of the leaders were seen waving to the crowds with a portrait of Tagore in their hands.

After the rally ended at Jamboni bus stand, Banerjee addressed a gathering and said: “We will stop this conspiracy to jeopardise our existence in the name of linguistic terror and an attempt to implement NRC by the backdoor…We have no enmity with any language. I am not against any language.

I believe that unity in diversity is the foundation of our nation. But if you try to erase our language and culture, we will resist peacefully, powerfully and politically.”

She also accused the BJP-led Centre of having a “big plan” behind the move. She also alleged that the BJP was trying to divide the country. “If they try removing names from Bengal, there will be serious consequences.

She accused the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) of trying to “implement the NRC through the backdoor” by targeting Bengali-speaking migrants and attempting to omit genuine voters from the electoral rolls,” Banerjee added.

Alleging that the Election Commission was working at the behest of the Centre, Banerjee said: “A former minister in the BJP government is now trying to delete names of voters from the electoral list to assist his friend in the double-engine government. I dare them to omit genuine voters in the name of electoral roll revision. We will not allow them to make Bengalis homeless in their own country.”

Urging people never to forget their Asmita (pride), mother tongue and motherland, Banerjee said: “You can forget everything, but you must not forget your roots. If Bengal can bring Independence and lead social reforms, it can very well fight for its own existence.” “Bengalis are being tortured across states.

Why this hatred? If Bengal can accept and shelter 1.5 crore migrant workers from other states, why can’t you accept 22 lakh Bengali migrants working elsewhere?” she asked.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Banerjee said: “When you travel to Arab nations and hug the sheikhs, do you ask whether they are Hindus or Muslims? Did you ask the Maldives President his religion before hugging him and donating Rs 5,000 crore, while depriving Bengal of its dues?”

Ahead of 2026 Assembly elections, Banerjee once again reaffirmed her faith in Anubrata Mondal as he was made the conveyor of the party’s core committee in Birbhum.