Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek on Tuesday accused the Centre of hurting the “pride and self-esteem” of the Rajbanshi community in north Bengal by failing to honour promises made during successive election campaigns.Addressing a public meeting at the Natabari assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district, the TMC national general secretary alleged that the Union home minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders had made “false promises” to the Rajbanshis, a community that represents a significant voter base in the region.“Shah had promised to raise a ‘Narayani Sena’ battalion of the Indian Army from the community members in 2019, 2021 and 2024 poll campaigns, but the Centre is yet to deliver the promise. BJP leaders like Shah describe Rajbanshis as friends when he comes to their area to seek votes for BJP candidates and gives lots of promises, but once the polls are over and he is back in Delhi, he forgets about the community,” Banerjee said. “This shows the true colour of deceptive BJP.”Banerjee alleged that the BJP government’s negligence extended to cultural and linguistic issues as well. He said the Centre was yet to respond to the West Bengal government’s demand to include the Rajbanshi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. “By ignoring such a demand, the Centre has hurt the pride and self-esteem of the Rajbanshi people who have their own culture and identity,” he said.The TMC leader also attacked Shah for being “ignorant” about Bengal’s indigenous communities and their icons. “We are yet to see the Panchanan Barma memorial in Cooch Behar to be set up by the Centre as Amit Shah had promised in an election meeting years back. It is another matter that he even distorted his name as Panchanan Barman, which hurt the sentiments of every resident of Coochbehar and Bengal,” he said.Banerjee further accused the Modi government of failing to deliver on other promises made to north Bengal, including the creation of a religious tourism hub and an AIIMS-type hospital. “Shah’s promise to develop a religious tourism hub by developing popular temples in Cooch Behar has also not seen the light of day, while the assurance to set up an AIIMS-type hospital in north Bengal seems to be dumped in cold storage,” he said.The TMC leader also alleged that many Bengali-speaking migrants from north Bengal faced harassment in BJP-ruled states. “Also remember how many Bengali-speaking migrants from Coochbehar as well as other parts of Bengal, including Murshidabad and Malda, had been harassed simply for speaking in Bengali in BJP-ruled states,” he said, describing the current political contest as “a fight between insult, humiliation and respect, asmita and dignity.”Urging people to vote against the BJP, Banerjee said, “Don’t fall in the trap laid by the BJP and its allies. They want to divide people along ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines. Be alert.”He also accused the BJP of deleting the names of several lakh Bengalis from the citizenship register under the “under adjudication” clause, including “lakhs of Hindu Bengalis.”Reiterating that the state’s flagship welfare scheme, Lakshmir Bhandar, would continue, Banerjee said, “A woman BJP leader had said in Cooch Behar in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign that BJP will halt ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ if it came to power in Bengal. But our CM, Mamata Banerjee, devised other ways, like raising money from our own resources, so that people are not deprived.”He accused the Modi government of “withholding Rs 2 lakh crore due to Bengal” to “starve the poor people” by blocking central funds.Descendants of the Koch dynasty, the Rajbanshis form the largest Scheduled Caste group in north Bengal, concentrated in Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Darjeeling districts. They have historically campaigned for linguistic recognition and regional development, with periodic calls for a separate Kamatapur state or autonomous council.Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, with votes to be counted on May 4.
