West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urges migrant Bengalis to return, vows livelihood plan

Kolkata: Saying that she is ready to give her life for Bengali “asmita”, language and people, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the Bengali migrant workers in other states of the country to return to Bengal and announced that a new scheme will be floated for their livelihood. The CM also held her first rally against "linguistic terrorism" in Bengal's Bolpur today, kicking off the second language movement, from the land of Rabindranath Tagore.

In a bid to facilitate the Bengali-speaking migrant workers, Banerjee also instructed the state administration to start the process of bringing back the migrant workers from other states by formulating the scheme.

Banerjee urged the workers outside to come back to Bengal. "We will bring you back by train as was done during the COVID period. We have opened a police helpline. We will create a scheme for the migrant workers. Come back from Gujarat, UP, Rajasthan, Haryana and Assam, as they don't want you...come and work here. I will urge all migrant workers' unions to request all to come back and you will live well in Bengal," Banerjee said, as she addressed people, after kicking off the language movement related rally in Birbhum’s Bolpur.


She directed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, Judicial Minister Moloy Ghatak and Migrant Welfare Board Chairman Samirul Islam to formulate the scheme for the Bengali-speaking workers.

She also held her first rally against "linguistic terrorism" in Bengal's Bolpur today.

“In the land of kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore, we have kicked off the "Bhasha Andolon" in Birbhum today and it will be taken to all districts. The red soil of Bengal is known as 'Rangamati' . People from all walks of lives have supported our protest. Hindi-speaking people have supported the protest today,” Banerjee said.

“Where the head is held high and mind is without fear," quoting Tagore, Banerjee said, “Bengal is a land of renaissance and reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar and in the freedom movement, people of Bengal showed the path to the country. Tagore is a universal icon. Gandhiji also loved the land of Bengal,”Banerjee said.

Kindling Bengali ‘asmita’, Banerjee said,“Don't forget your own motherland, Bengali 'asmita' and culture Bengal is a holy land. Have you forgotten the contribution of Rabindranath Tagore, poet Nazrul or Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose?”

“I will give my life but not allow anyone to take our ‘asmita’, language, and culture,” she said.

The CM said that across Bengal, in different districts, there are different accents and Birbhum's accent is different from Murshidabad. But that cannot be a reason for labelling someone as Bangladeshi.

The CM has raised concern about alleged reports of detentions of and atrocities on the Bengali-speaking people from different districts of West Bengal in Gurgaon, Haryana. There have been reports of illegal deportation of West Bengal citizens with all proper documents to Bangladesh directly, Banerjee pointed out. “I am shocked to see these atrocities of double-engine BJP governments on Bengalis in India. If Bengali-speaking people are found, why will they be tortured, despite having valid documents, Ration, Aadhar and PAN cards,” Banerjee said.

She urged Hindi speaking to come forward and raise their voice for Bengali speaking people in other states. “I am not against any languages or divisive policies. We want unity in diversity. I have never told any Hindi speaking brother to leave Bengal. But if speaking in Bengali, there is torture unleashed in Rajasthan, UP, Haryana and Assam, it is unfortunate.”

Banerjee said that the central government will not last till 2029.