Mamata Banerjee Leads Massive March Over ‘Targeting’ of Bengali Migrants
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, braving a heavy downpour, led a massive protest march through the streets of Kolkata on Wednesday, accusing BJP-ruled states of harassing and targeting Bengali-speaking migrant workers. The march signals a major political offensive by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.
Drenched but undeterred, the Trinamool supremo walked a 3-kilometer stretch accompanied by top party leaders, including her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Chants of “BJP, chi chi” (Shame on you, BJP) echoed as thousands of supporters joined the rally, which was secured by nearly 1,500 police personnel.
The immediate trigger for the protest was the recent detention of 444 individuals as suspected Bangladeshi nationals in Jharsuguda, Odisha. The TMC claims that at least 200 of those detained are legitimate migrant workers from West Bengal. The party has also cited alleged linguistic profiling and eviction drives in Delhi as evidence of a pattern of harassment.
The protest marks a return to “street-style politics” for Mamata Banerjee and is being seen as a calculated move to reignite the emotive issue of Bengali sub-nationalism. The timing is significant, coming just days before a scheduled visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state and as the political battle for the 2026 Assembly elections begins to heat up.
This strategy proved highly effective for the TMC in the 2021 Assembly elections. The party’s ‘Bangla Nijer Meyeke Chaye’ (Bengal wants its own daughter) slogan successfully countered the BJP’s aggressive Hindutva-focused campaign, helping to secure a decisive victory for Banerjee.
