KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Monday kick off her “weekly protest movement” against the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.
She will lead a protest rally there in Birbhum district. The reason for choosing Birbhum as the starting venue of the protest, which Mamata Banerjee describes as another “Bhasha Andolan (Language Movement)”, is the district's rich association with Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and the Gurudev-founded Visva Bharati University at Bolpur-Santiniketan in the district.
Political observers feel that Mamata Banerjee has deliberately chosen the district as the starting venue to exploit Bengali nostalgia associated with Gurudev.
The Chief Minister has started facing criticisms about labelling the protest as “Bhasha Andolan”, since, historically, Bhasha Andolan was a political movement in what was then East Pakistan. It was a campaign advocating for the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language, which ultimately led to the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation after erstwhile East Pakistan was liberated from Pakistan in 1971
At the event, Mamata Banerjee is likely to air her reservations on the special intensive revision (SIR) of West Bengal's electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. The SIR exercise is ongoing in neighbouring Bihar, where Assembly elections will be held before the end of this year.
As per the Chief Minister's office, Banerjee will reach Birbhum district on Sunday night. On Monday, she will attend an administrative meeting in Bolpur, where she will do online inauguration of several government projects.
Later in the day, CM Banerjee will launch the Bhasha Andolan march in Bolpur-Santiniketan.
"The Chief Minister will hold an administrative meeting at Gitanjali Theatre in the afternoon tomorrow. Following that, she will join the language movement procession. The procession of about three kilometres will commence from the Tourist Lodge crossing in Bolpur to Jamboni bus stand, " said a state government official.