Lok Sabha Erupts as Shatabdi Roy Says Bangla-Speakers Cannot Be Sent to Bangladesh

The Lok Sabha witnessed heated exchanges on Friday when Trinamool Congress MP Shatabdi Roy protested the deportation of Bangla-speaking individuals to Bangladesh, declaring that “language cannot be a criterion for deportation.” Raising the issue in Bengali during Zero Hour, Roy cited the recent case of a person being sent to Bangladesh from Odisha and warned that if such a policy continues, Hindi and Urdu speakers could be sent to Pakistan—a remark that triggered uproar from the BJP benches.

When her microphone was switched off after the allotted time, Roy, accompanied by fellow TMC MP Mahua Moitra, rushed to BJP MP Jugal Kishore’s seat and continued speaking into his microphone, prompting the Chair to intervene. BJP MPs accused the TMC of politicising the issue, while Roy later doubled down, insisting that millions of Bangla-speaking Indian citizens in states like Assam, Odisha, and Tripura are living in fear of wrongful deportation.

Responding sharply, BJP MP Sambit Patra rejected Roy’s claims as “false and baseless”, clarifying that no state targets Indian citizens based on language. “Bengali-speaking people are our brothers. Odisha has embraced them for centuries. But Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas have no place in Odisha or anywhere in India,” Patra said, demanding Roy withdraw her remark equating Hindi/Urdu speakers with Pakistan and apologise for allegedly insulting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

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The confrontation highlights escalating tensions over the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, with the Opposition alleging that Bangla-speaking Indian minorities are being harassed and wrongly labelled as infiltrators in BJP-ruled and non-BJP states alike. TMC leaders have repeatedly accused the Centre of using deportation as a tool to target linguistic minorities, especially in border states.

The Chair eventually allowed Roy to conclude her submission but expunged certain remarks from the record. The episode underscores the deepening divide over citizenship and deportation policies ahead of the next phase of NRC updates in several states.

With similar complaints emerging from Assam and Tripura, the controversy is likely to intensify in Parliament and on the ground, as regional parties rally behind linguistic communities fearing misidentification as illegal immigrants.

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