North India Statesman
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Politics of Citizenship: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has recently said important things on the issue of citizenship, nationality and linguistic identity. He emphasized that being a Bengali is not the same as being a Bangladeshi and it is unfair to call a person illegal or Bangladeshi on the basis of speaking Bengali. The comment has come in terms of targeting the alleged misconduct with the people of the Bengali community at Delhi and other places and targeting them from areas such as “Mini Bangladesh”. According to Mamta Banerjee, West Bengal has its own special cultural and linguistic identity, which is being attacked. He said that the second largest spoken language in India in India is Bengali, but it is unfortunate that its speakers are often seen with suspicion or their nationality is questioned. This situation hurts the fabric of linguistic diversity and inclusion of the country. Politics of Citizenship: Does the language decide the language in India? Identification of recent incidents, especially in a Delhi settlement, was told how the local police and administration, how the Aadhaar and PAN card are often taken action against the people. It was also revealed how a person is declared an illegal migrant for his Bengali identity, despite being born in India and he is not heard even after presenting evidence of citizenship. Such cases also mention an incident in Maharashtra, where a person named Mehebub Sheikh was sent to Bangladesh despite having the right papers, which later returned after the state government’s intervention. These incidents have made it clear how sensitive and politically inspired the issue of citizenship. It is alleged that some political parties target specific communities using linguistic and cultural identity under their agenda, frightened them and try to snatch their rights. The decisions and comments of the Supreme Court are also important in these cases, which show that only a kind of document is not required to prove citizenship. Nevertheless, the reality on the ground often looks different from this, where people are put in suspicion on the basis of language and culture and have to go through unnecessary mental pain. It is clearly against a pluralist Indian ethos and questions a governance where citizenship is identified only on the language.
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