Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma
Credit: PTI Photo
Agartala: Tipra Motha Party (TMP), an ally of the BJP, criticised the Delhi Police on Monday for terming Bengali "Bangladeshi language".
In a recent letter written to the officer-in-charge of Banga Bhavan, the guest house of the West Bengal government in the national capital, the Delhi Police sought a translator for the translation of documents containing "text written in Bangladeshi language" to aid its investigation in a Foreigners' Act case.
"Referring to Bengali as a 'Bangladeshi language' by Delhi Police is deeply concerning. Today it is Bengali, tomorrow it can be any other language. There is no such thing called Bangladeshi language," TMP supremo Pradyot Debbarma said.
"How can we forget that even our national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' was originally composed in Bengali by Tagore? These actions by Delhi Police give space to extremist views and give people like Md. Yunus a chance to tarnish our country's image," he said.
Debbarma said he was firmly opposed to the imposition of any language on any community.
"But as Indians, we must uphold respect for all our languages, be it Kokborok, Bengali, Tamil, Assamese, Mizo, Bodo or Hindi or even English," he added.
Tipra Motha Party is a part of the BJP-led government in Tripura.
Leader of the Opposition in the Tripura assembly, Jitendra Chaudhury of the CPI(M), slammed the Delhi Police for its "ignorance" of the language.
"I condemn the Delhi Police letter referring to Bangladeshi language. The Bengali language is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The BJP is spreading hatred over language. This is nothing but an attempt to implement Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan, a long-cherished ideology of the BJP and RSS," he alleged.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee lashed out at the Delhi Police, stating that referring to Bengali as "Bangladeshi language" was "insulting, anti-national and unconstitutional".