January 07,2026
“Bengalis are being targeted for speaking Bangla”
Kamal Kumar Biswas
Senior CorrespondentAbhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, used a brief but symbolically charged visit to a remote village in South Dinajpur on Wednesday to mount a fierce political offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party, linking the plight of migrant workers to what he described as linguistic and political persecution.
Mr. Banerjee arrived in Balurghat from Kolkata by helicopter shortly after noon. His first stop was the Balurghat airport itself, where he met family members of Osman Mia from Kumarganj, who died by suicide earlier this year amid fear and uncertainty surrounding the SIR and related verification processes. Sitting at the airport rather than moving to a formal venue, Mr. Banerjee spoke with the grieving family — a gesture his party later described as deliberate and empathetic.
On his way to Lakshmipur village in Patiram, under the Tapan Assembly constituency, Mr. Banerjee made an unscheduled stop at Lakshmipur Primary School, where he interacted briefly with students and teachers. He distributed chocolates among the children, who in turn welcomed him with roses — a moment that contrasted sharply with the hard political message that would follow later in the day.
Mr. Banerjee then proceeded to Lakshmipur village, where he met two migrant workers — Asit Sarkar and Gautam Barman — who had allegedly been detained by Maharashtra police for seven months while working outside the state. He spent around 20 minutes at Mr. Sarkar’s home, listening to their accounts of detention, uncertainty and hardship.
Emerging from the house, Mr. Banerjee addressed journalists and launched a blistering critique of the BJP, framing the upcoming Assembly elections as a referendum on dignity, language and livelihood. Voting for the BJP, he said, was tantamount to condemning Bengali-speaking migrant workers to harassment and incarceration in other states.
“Bengalis are being targeted for speaking Bangla,” Mr. Banerjee said, referring to what he called the misuse of identity verification mechanisms. “Through SIR, through fear, they are pushing people into desperation. This is what awaits migrant workers if the BJP is empowered.”
From the village itself, he issued a rallying call to ensure a “6-out-of-6” sweep — a reference to the total number of Assembly seats in the district — positioning Lakshmipur as a political starting point for the Trinamool Congress’s campaign.
Mr. Banerjee also took direct aim at Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, the BJP’s former West Bengal president and a Member of Parliament from the region. Standing, as he put it, “on Sukanta Majumdar’s home turf,” Mr. Banerjee challenged him to account for his contribution to the district’s development.
“What has he done for South Dinajpur?” Mr. Banerjee asked. “Beyond slogans and politics of division, what has this district gained?”
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