Mamata Stokes Bangla Asmita, Slams Assam CM

Addressing thousands of supporters at the Trinamool Congress Shaheed Diwas rally in Kolkata on Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission were "conspiring against Bengal" and alleged that they intended to remove Bengali voters from the electoral list.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

She invoked Bengali asmita and referred to Bengali-speaking migrants being detained in BJP-ruled states on suspicion of being Bangladeshi. "Is speaking in Bengali a crime? Why are we stopped? Why are we questioned?" she said.

"I will not allow any SIR-like exercise in Bengal," Banerjee said. "They want to snatch away the rights of Bengalis, but we will not let that happen."

She slammed her Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma for "poking his nose" in Bengal's affairs.

"Assam CM, you can't handle Assam, and you are poking your nose in Bengal? Stop this; otherwise, I shall ask (TMC MP) Sushmita Dev to start a movement against you. We all shall go. Let's see how you send us to detention camps," she said.

She questioned the Assam government's decision to send a National Register of Citizens (NRC) notice to a farmer in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district.

"Who has authorized the BJP government in Assam to send NRC notices to Bengal residents?" Banerjee asked.