Bengali Nationalism

Between home, hostility & hard choices: Illegal immigrants fuel WB's polls

The noise around migrants from West Bengal swelled last month after the state's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, led a march in Kolkata to protest against what she called the harassment of Bengalis

Mamata warns BJP of backlash over harassment of Bengali-speaking people

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lashed out at the BJP-led Centre on Wednesday for what, she called, its policy of harassing and mistreating Bengali-speaking people across the country and warned the saffron party of dire political consequences if it did not put an immediate stop to such actions. Banerjee also alleged that the ruling dispensation at the Centre was influencing the Election Commission of India to achieve its political ambitions across states. She was speaking at a public meeting after holding a protest march in rain-drenched Kolkata against the alleged torture of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states. I will challenge the central government notices which were surreptitiously sent to BJP-ruled states to harass Bengali-speaking people and detain them at the slightest suspicion, the Trinamool Congress supremo alleged at the rally, which terminated at the Dorina Crossing in central Kolkata. I am ashamed and disheartened at the Centre and the BJP's attitude

KMC asks shops to put up signboards in Bengali alongside other languages

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has made it mandatory for every commercial establishment in the metropolis to put up signboards in Bengali along with other languages, an official said. The civic body is determined to enforce the usage of Bengali in signages, and has set a tentative deadline of February 21, 2025 to initiate the process, he said. Municipal Secretary Swapan Kundu said the corporation is in contact with the owners of shops, restaurants and other business establishments to ensure that names and other information about the outlets are written in Bengali in addition to any other language. In October, TMC Councillor Biswarup Dey had said at a KMC session that all signboards in public and private offices should have Bengali text apart from other languages and all notifications, letters and documents of the municipal corporation should also be published in Bengali. Dey had made the proposal in the wake of Bengali receiving the distinction of a classical language by t

Bengali is second-largest spoken language in Asia: West Bengal CM

"We must remember that we should learn our mother tongue no matter where we live," she added

Football and the face of Bengali nationalism

For a major chunk of the state's people, ghoti Bengalis are regarded as more authentic