Kolkata: Youth Cong takes out rally to protest against 'harassment' of Bengalis in BJP-ruled states

Kolkata, Aug 2 (PTI) Youth Congress activists took to the streets in Kolkata on Saturday to protest against the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states.

The protesters, holding placards and raising slogans, began their march to the Raj Bhavan in the morning, where they planned to submit a deputation.

Police, however, stopped the Youth Congress workers’ procession at Dharmatala near the Raj Bhavan, and detained several workers who attempted to break barricades, officials said.

Vowing to continue the protests, an agitator claimed that Bengali-speaking migrants were being “harassed and sent to Bangladesh from BJP-ruled states”.

Meanwhile, the women’s wing of the Trinamool Congress also organised a sit-in near the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road here, as part of the party’s ‘Bhasha Andolan’ (language movement).

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had on July 28 launched the 'Bhasha Andolan' from Bolpur in Birbhum district in protest against alleged attacks on Bengali-speaking migrants across the country.

Banerjee had earlier issued a clarion call to TMC workers to prepare for a fresh agitation from July 28, calling it a second ‘Language Movement’, drawing parallels with the historic 1952 protest in Dhaka (then East Pakistan), where students sacrificed their lives demanding recognition of Bengali as an official language of Pakistan.

TMC leaders said such protests will be held every weekend till the assembly elections in the state next year.

Reacting to the TMC protests, West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The party should first ask its MPs like Yusuf Pathan, Shatrughan Sinha and Saket Gokhale to speak in Bengali before launching these agitations.” PTI BSM RBT