Students Attacked in Kolkata for Speaking Bengali

The incident comes in the backdrop of harassment and attacks on Bengali migrant workers in BJP-ruled states. However, it has taken everyone by surprise that Bengalis are now facing attacks for speaking the Bengali language in West Bengal. One of the students said: "They said in Hindi that we are 'Bangladeshis'. When we protested, they beat me. They took away my mobile phone. One man even attacked us with knives." A senior police officer of Kolkata Police said: "We have received a complaint in this regard. We are investigating the matter. No one has been arrested so far."

- AGENCIES Kolkata, 21 August

In a shocking and bizarre incident, Bengalis were beaten up in Kolkata after being branded as Bangladeshis by a group of Hindi-speaking traders in West Bengal.

Four students of the University of Calcutta were beaten up by a group of Hindi-speaking traders in Sealdah station area in north Kolkata for speaking in Bengali, after an altercation broke out between them over the price of a mobile phone cover.