Members of the civil society and a section of intellectuals from West Bengal have raised an outcry after a letter sent to Banga Bhawan in New Delhi by a Delhi Police inspector of the Lodhi Colony police station — seeking a translator for the “Bangladeshi language” — went viral on social media.
The use of the term “Bangladeshi language” to refer to Bangla has sparked outrage across West Bengal.
On 4 August, Monday, several Bengali intellectuals condemned the Delhi Police's move, noting that Bangla is one of the constitutionally recognised languages of the country. Many a netizen also expressed their annoyance over the BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya doubling down and mocking West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's objection to the ill-advised letter.
National award-winning filmmaker Goutam Ghose told IANS that such discrimination of “Bengalis” and “Bengali” language was not “acceptable in a democratic country” and appealed to all stakeholders to stop this immediately to protect peace, tolerance and unity in the country.
“It is completely unacceptable in a democratic country. Bangla is one of the 22 constitutionally recognised scheduled languages in the country. This kind of labelling promotes hatred. I don’t know about the political implications of this, but what is happening is unfair, especially to people who migrate to other places to earn their livelihoods,” Ghose said.
The scripting of Bengalis as ‘Bangladeshi’The renowned filmmaker stated that there are multiple dialects of Bangla, which vary according to geographical area. “The language is the same. The dialect changes with geography. Bengalis in West Bengal speak in one dialect. Bengalis in Bangladesh speak another dialect. People in Jharkhand also speak Bangla with a different dialect. In addition, Bangla is spoken by a large number of people across the world. So this is nothing but a kind of cultural vandalism,” he added.
Also speaking to IANS, Bangla poet and writer Subodh Sarkar wondered whether people speaking in Tamil and Urdu in the country will be now branded as Sri Lankan and Pakistani, respectively.
“Bangla is one of the primary languages in the country. It has been recognised by the Constitution. After reading the Delhi Police letter, it seems that Bangla is not an Indian language. I strongly condemn this and the people who are branding Bengalis as Bangladeshis. This is nothing but a part of a conspiracy, and the Delhi Police is just a part of it. Does that mean those who speak Tamil will be branded as Sri Lankan? And those who speak Urdu as Pakistani?" Sarkar told IANS, while voicing support for the widespread protests over the development.
Veteran actor and theatre personality Koushik Sen echoed the concerns, linking the incident to a larger pattern of targeting economically disadvantaged Bengali migrants — by the BJP.
“It has been going on for some days now that Bengalis coming from a poor economic background are being targeted in other states. This situation is being created by the party that is in power at the Centre. We do not want to see this issue being used for political gain. The latest incident describing Bangla as a Bangladeshi language is just a part of it. This is being done either to win the elections or to send a strong message about ‘infiltration’,” Sen told IANS.
Educationist and professor of philosophy Miratun Nahar called it part and parcel of the movement to impose Hindi across the country.
"Bangla has been deliberately regarded by the Centre as the language of ‘Bangladeshis’ with the motive to impose Hindi on all Indians. As there is no common language in India, English has been accepted as a language of communication," she said.
She further said that the purpose of the ruling party at the Centre is to change the Constitution and establish a different Bharat as early as possible. "Countrymen all over India must raise their voice against this aggressive attitude of the central ruling party, which has failed to meet the daily needs of their countrymen," she added.
Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherjee took to social media to denounce the language of the Delhi Police. "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," the filmmaker wrote while sharing a photocopy of the Delhi Police letter.
Singer and frontman of Bengali rock band Fossils, Rupam Islam also registered his protest. "What is this? Isn’t BANGLA one of the 22 official languages of India? Why must it be mentioned as BANGLADESHI LANGUAGE? Height of Ignorance and stupidity," Islam wrote in a social media post.
Bengali folk singer and musician Surojit Chatterjee also wrote in a social media post about Bangla being referred to as the "Bangladeshi" language: "Exactly the kind of ignorance I expect from the people responsible... Not surprised at all."
Others pointed out that while there are specific dialects of Bengali that do originate in Bangladesh, they are by no means restricted to Bangladeshis alone — or even Bengalis in West Bengal!
Many took issue with a popular post doing the rounds that asks whether people of West Bengal can tell a Bangladeshi apart from an Indian by their speech alone. Several Indian citizens derided those who claimed to be able to do so.
Some pointed out that Indians in Assam, for example, include a sizeable Sylheti-speaking population — of not just Muslims, as chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma often rues, but also of Hindus. A few noted this includes the usual BJP vote banks, in fact — and taunted the Sylheti speakers for voting for the saffron party.
At least one wag quipped that it is curious the Delhi Police saw fit to ask for help from the West Bengal state government’s Banga Bhawan rather than asking for help from the Bangladesh embassy, if indeed "Bangladeshi" was what the issue was.
Of course, across West Bengal, it is well-known that not only do those of ancestral Bangladeshi extraction (the 'Bangal' community) speak specific distinct dialects but so do those of ancestral extraction from different parts of West Bengal (the 'ghoti' community) — often mutually challenging to each other, and not just across the border.
That there is a Bengali/Indian Bangla and a Bangladeshi Bangla has been news to Bengalis across India, given they variously speak one or more of the several dialects of Rarh, Contai, Barendra, Sylheti, Chattgainya, Barishailya, Nadia, Jessore, Malda, Rongpur or indeed, Dhakai or Kolkata-specific ones — all of which are widely spoken across both borders and in all three capital cities, doubtless (Delhi, Kolkata and Dhaka).
At least one Indian citizen also felt compelled to note that the national anthem of India, written by Vishwaguru Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali, would be as recognisable and comprehensible to a Bangladeshi citizen as to most Indians — only, possibly more so.
With IANS inputs
