Kolkata, Jul 21 (PTI) TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday tore into the BJP, asserting that the 'Bangla-Birodhi' (anti-Bengal) party will be sent to detention camps after the assembly polls due next year, reciprocating harassment bona fide residents of West Bengal are currently subjected to in BJP-ruled states.

Directing his criticism also against the Election Commission of India, accusing it of “rigging” voters’ list in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Banerjee announced that the party would mount a fierce agitation in Delhi, subject to permission from supremo Mamata Banerjee, to stop the ECI’s alleged attempts to disenfranchise voters.

“The BJP wants to take Bengalis to detention camps for speaking their language. I want to tell them clearly — after the 2026 elections, it is you whom we will send to the detention camps after defeating you democratically,” he claimed while speaking at the TMC's Martyrs’ Day rally at Esplanade in central Kolkata.

The TMC MP said that branding the BJP as ‘Bangla Birodhi’ ahead of the 2024 general elections wasn’t merely a coinage of slogan but an “exposure of the true character of the saffron camp”.

“The BJP, in its arrogance, has been humiliating Bengal and its people in a sustained manner. Our workers had laid down their lives on these streets 32 years ago in demand for their right to vote with valid ID cards. Now in 2025, we are ready to repeat that feat. To stop the ECI’s conspiracy to rig the voters’ list and snatch their right to vote, we can even mount agitations in Delhi,” the TMC general secretary said.

Banerjee also lashed out against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly targeting Bengali-speaking citizens in his state and naming them Bangladeshis.

“A fortnight has passed since the Assam CM spoke against Bengalis sitting on an elected Constitutional chair. I want to know what disciplinary steps the BJP central leaders have taken against him. I appeal to our MPs to speak in Bengali in the current Parliament session, if required, and dare them to silence us," he said.

Bengalis take immense pride in their mother tongue and should enhance the frequency of speaking in Bangla manifold, he said.

“You (BJP) think you can bend the TMC and people of Bengal according to your will? We were born in Bengal, not in Gujarat or UP, and we will neither bow before you nor sell our spines or surrender,” Banerjee declared.

Stating that the 2021 state election slogan ‘Khela Hobey’ (the game is afoot) will be modified in 2025 as a resolve to “uproot the lotus”, he said that the BJP would be reduced to less than 50 seats in the assembly elections next year.

“I am not in the habit of making poll predictions. I analyse. I am saying this with confidence because I trust the people of Bengal and their sentiments,” he said.

In a tacit reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Durgapur last week, the Diamond Harbour MP attributed the so-called “shift” in political slogans of BJP leaders to the power of the people here.

“Earlier, they used to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan. Now, under pressure, they are saying ‘Jai Ma Durga’, ‘Jai Ma Kali’. Mark my words, in 10 months after the 2026 election results, we will make them chant ‘Joy Bangla',” he said.

Banerjee accused the BJP of using central agencies and institutions to launch dual-pronged attacks on opposition parties and their supporters to fulfil its ambitions.

“While on the one hand they are using the ED and CBI to send opposition leaders to jail, they are, on the other hand, making the ECI take away voting rights of opposition party supporters of this country,” he alleged.

Maintaining that Bengal doesn’t discriminate among citizens of this country on the grounds of religion, language, food habits or customs, the TMC leader warned that if divisive powers wanted to play with fire, then they would be the first to get smouldered by the flames.

“Do not suffer from the complacency that Trinamool will win no matter what because we have Mamata Banerjee to lead us. Of course, she will guide us. But you have to fight the battle on the ground and ensure that you do not concede an inch of land to those who have continuously hurt our self-respect,” Banerjee told party workers. PTI SUS PNT BDC SMY NN