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A Durand Cup football match in Kolkata has become the stage for a powerful protest after a Delhi Police officer’s letter referred to the "Bangladeshi language"—a term that has stirred significant controversy and political backlash.
During the match between East Bengal and Namdhari FC at Salt Lake Stadium, East Bengal fans unveiled a large banner reading in Bengali:
"Bharat swadhin korte sedin porechilam fanshi, mayer bhasha bolchi bole ajke Bangladeshi."
Loosely translated, it means:
"We embraced the noose for India's freedom, and today we are called Bangladeshi for speaking our mother tongue."
The protest banner, which quickly went viral online, reflects growing outrage in West Bengal over the alleged targeting of Bengali-speaking migrants in other parts of India. The trigger was a letter from a Delhi Police inspector to Banga Bhawan officials requesting a translator for the "Bangladeshi language"—a term that critics argue does not exist, as Bengali is spoken on both sides of the India-Bangladesh border.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shared the letter on social media, calling it “scandalous, insulting, anti-national, and unconstitutional.” She accused the Delhi Police—controlled by the central government—of demeaning the Bengali language and identity.
In response, a senior BJP leader defended the Delhi Police, claiming the term “Bangladeshi language” was used to refer to dialects and speech patterns found in Bangladesh, which are said to differ significantly from Indian Bengali. He specifically mentioned Sylheti, a dialect spoken in parts of Bangladesh, as being nearly unintelligible to Indian Bengalis.
The controversy has sparked backlash from Bengali intellectuals and has provided the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) with fresh political ammunition ahead of next year’s state elections. The party has also raised concerns about the Centre’s plan to revise voter rolls in Bengal, suggesting it could be used to disenfranchise Bengali-speaking residents.
This is not the first time Kolkata football has intersected with political protests. In 2020, East Bengal fans protested against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) with the banner: “Rokto diye kena maati, kaagoj diye noi” ("Land bought with blood, not documents").
For East Bengal supporters—many of whom have ancestral ties to present-day Bangladesh—such protests carry personal weight. The club’s identity was shaped by the Partition and the refugee experience.
Last year, another football match in Kolkata saw rare unity between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan fans as they jointly demanded justice for a doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College.
