Kolkata, April 7 Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP-led Centre of undermining the “pride and self-esteem” of the Rajbanshi community in north Bengal by failing to fulfill key election promises.
Addressing a meeting in the Natabari Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district, the TMC national general secretary alleged that the Centre has not acted on the state government’s demand to include the Rajbanshi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, thus hurting the “pride and self-esteem” of members of the community.
Accusing Union Home Minister Amit Shah of making false promises to the community, which comprises a large segment of voters in Cooch Behar district, he said, “Shah had promised to raise a ‘Narayani Sena’ battalion of the Indian Army from the community members in the 2019, 2021, and 2024 election campaigns, but the Centre has yet to act on it.”
“BJP leaders like Shah describe Rajbanshis as friends when he comes to their area to seek votes for BJP candidates and makes a lot of promises, but once the polls are over and he is back in Delhi, he forgets about the community. This is true regarding Shah’s professed love for all the communities, including Matuas. This shows the true nature of deceptive BJP,” he said.
Descendants of the Koch dynasty, Rajbanshis are the largest Scheduled Caste group in north Bengal, primarily spread across Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Darjeeling districts, and have historically faced economic hardships due to their involvement in agriculture as sharecroppers.
Their political significance stems from their advocacy for regional development and recognition of their Kamtapuri-Rajbanshi language, and have, in the past, demanded the formation of a separate state or autonomous council, often under the banner of a Kamatapur movement.
“The Rajbanshi Kamtapuri language was officially recognized by our state government in 2018,” he reminded.
Accusing Shah of being ignorant about the culture and heritage of indigenous communities of Bengal, he claimed that the Union home minister had misspelt social reformer and community icon Panchanan Barma's name as Panchanan Barman while making another false promise in the past.
“We have yet to see the Panchanan Barma memorial in Cooch Behar, which Amit Shah had promised during an election meeting years ago. It is another matter that he even distorted his name as Panchanan Barman, which hurt the sentiments of every resident of Coochbehar and Bengal,” Banerjee said.
He also said that Shah’s promise to develop a religious tourism hub by developing popular temples in Cooch Behar has not been fulfilled, while the assurance to set up an AIIMS-type hospital in north Bengal seems to be unrealized.
Banerjee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn't even “consider visiting the historic Madan Mohan Temple during his recent Coochbehar visit, though the venue of his recent meeting, Rash Mela ground, is located very near to the shrine.”
“They use Hindu religion as mere shield,” Banerjee said.
“Also, remember how many Bengali-speaking migrants from Coochbehar as well as other parts of Bengal, including Murshidabad and Malda, have been harassed simply for speaking in Bengali in BJP-ruled states,” Banerjee said.
He described this as a “fight between insult, humiliation, and respect, and dignity,” and called upon people to “teach BJP a lesson in the polls.”
Accusing the BJP of deleting the names of lakhs of Bengalis from the electoral rolls citing “under abjudication” as the cause, he said that this includes several lakhs of Hindu Bengalis.
He was told by a woman in the audience that her name does not appear in the supplementary list released by the Election Commission on Monday midnight, Banerjee said, “We are hearing about many such cases as lakhs of names have been arbitrarily deleted in districts like Malda, Murshidabad, Coochbehar, and others.”
“Those who have lived here for 79 years since Independence and are exercising their voting rights are suddenly asked to prove their citizenship over and over again. We will ensure that the names of everyone are included in the electoral rolls in the long run. The BJP wants to deport Bengali-speaking citizens, including Hindus, but we won't allow that to happen,” he said.
“BJP will take away your citizenship while TMC will help you protect your citizenship rights,” Banerjee claimed.
Banerjee also said that BJP may have a section of the media and a section of the judiciary on their side, but “we have full faith in the Constitution and the Supreme Court, and we are confident that we will be able to secure the rights of those citizens missing from the list with the intervention of the judiciary.”
He wondered if former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had been sheltered by the Modi government after the unrest in July 2024, should be branded as an ‘infiltrator’ or ‘Bangladeshi’ staying in India for two years.
“Remember that not a single Rohingya and Bangladeshi has been found among the deleted voters,” he said.