discrimination-in-india

"To establish Bengali nationalism, the two Bengals must be united, and the fragmented Bengali culture must also be unified. Otherwise, the militarily powerful Muslim imperialism will engulf the Bengali nationalism of small East Bengal. On the other hand, the even stronger Hindi imperialism will destroy the distinct identity and independence of the Bengali-speaking regions within India."

"“Today, Bangladesh (West Bengal) remains in a very inferior position among the Indian Union. Biharis are showing aggression, and in Assam, Bengalis are facing arbitrary oppression and mistreatment. People from other provinces remember Bengal and Bengalis with pity, disdain, or neglect.” Twenty-seven years have passed since this statement was made. The corruption of the Congress and the oppression of Bengalis in Assam have only increased, yet there is no remedy. From the very beginning of independent India, the decline and misery of the Bengali people had reached such depths, and the causes behind it — as reflected in the above statement — we now understand deeply and painfully."

"In Jai Hind Colony in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, Bengali-speaking families are being targeted because they speak Bengali. They are being labelled 'Bangladeshi' and deprived of basic rights like water and electricity. A forced eviction is currently underway... In BJP-ruled states, Bengalis are being treated as infiltrators in their own country. Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi. These individuals are as much citizens of India as anyone else, regardless of what language they speak. Having failed in their attempts to deprive Bengalis in West Bengal, BJP is now exporting their Bangla-Birodhi agenda to other parts of the country in a strategic and systemic manner. Disturbing reports have emerged from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh, where Bengali-speaking individuals are facing targeted persecution. And now, this pattern of hostility has reached even the national capital."

"In the upcoming census of India, any resident of Assam who lists Bengali as their mother tongue will be identified as a ‘foreigner’. This will indicate how many foreigners are in the state."

"We went to Sambalpur in the third week of April by train to work at a bridge construction site. Some residents came to the site and asked us which state we were from. Learning that we were from Bengal, they turned hostile and started abusing us. Some of them manhandled us...We were frightened and fled to our temporary quarters. Then, those people came to our quarters at night and attacked us again."

"Don’t speak so much Bengali. Otherwise, this place will become Bangladesh."

"We will not let Bihar become Bengal."