KANCHRAPARA (WEST BENGAL): Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee hardened her stand against non-Bengalis on Friday when she said that speaking Bengali is a must for those living in the state.

"We have to bring Bengali forward," Mamata told a Trinamool gathering in Kanchrapara, which has a significant population of non-Bengali speaking people. "When I go to Bihar, UP, Punjab, I speak their language. If you are in Bengal, you have to speak Bengali. I will not tolerate criminals who stay in Bengal and roam around on motorbikes," the CM said.

Mamata's insistence on speaking Bengali is yet another effort to trump BJP, which she has accused of creating religious divide by popularising slogans like 'Jai Shri Ram' in Bengal.

Her assertion on Bengali is in line with the tactic that she has adopted since the desecration of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar's bust during BJP chief Amit Shah's roadshow in Kolkata before the polls. She has been trying to build the "Bengali-ness" and "outsider" rhetoric in an attempt to check BJP.

On Thursday, she had said, "Je junior doctor ra andolan korchchhe, tara outsider (The junior doctors who are protesting are outsiders)." Mamata's stress on speaking Bengali is an extension of that narrative.

Kanchrapara, located in the industrial and jute mill belt of North 24 Parganas, holds special significance for Trinamool as BJP managed to wrest the crucial Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, under which the locality falls. BJP also succeeded in winning the bypoll in Bhatpara assembly segment, also part of the Barrackpore seat. While Trinamool-turned-BJP candidate Arjun Singh defeated TMC veteran Dinesh Trivedi in a 'photo finish' in Barrackpore, the former's son Pawan Kumar Singh beat another party veteran, Madan Mitra, in Bhatpara.

Also, Kanchrapara is the home turf of former Trinamool second-in-command Mukul Roy, who switched over to BJP in 2017. His son Subhrangshu, the sitting MLA of Bijpur, also under the Barrackpore LS, was one of the first to join BJP after the LS results were out.

The CM also played to the Bengali sentiment, accusing the Barrackpore MP (without naming him) of having a bias towards the Hindi-speaking community, who work mainly in the area's jute mills. "Biharis have been driven out of Maharashtra and also from Gujarat. We didn't do that in Bengal. But you can't drive out Biharis from Bihar or the sons of the soil from Uttar Pradesh and Bengalis from West Bengal. Those staying here have to love Bengal's soil and culture," she said. Banerjee then urged her party organisers to recruit the jobless from poor families for party work. "Involve them in party work. I want those who lead the para addas (mohalla leaders). I will arrange jobs for them," she said.

The particular demographics of the area, particularly the language divide, was apparent along the 500-metre stretch leading to the meeting venue, which had a mix of BJP billboards with 'Jai Sri Ram' slogans and PM Narendra Modi, along with hoardings featuring Banerjee and her own slogans, 'Jai Bangla' and 'Jai Hind'. The hoardings were on both sides of the road, stretching beyond Mukul Roy's residence. However, unlike a fortnight ago, when Mamata lost her cool in Bhatpara when a group of men chanted 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan, Banerjee did not stop her convoy to chastise BJP supporters who had gathered to raise the slogan.



In Video: Those living in Bengal will have to learn how to speak Bengali, says Mamata Banerjee