New Delhi [India], July 25 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Jagannath Sarkar on Friday reacted to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's recent remarks, emphasising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to promoting the Bengali language.

Sarkar alleged that Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh have been learning Bengali and changing their names to obtain Aadhaar and voter cards in India.

'Prime Minister Modi gives priority to the Bengali language... Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh have learned Bengali and changed their names to obtain Aadhaar and voter cards here... The Supreme Court has also clearly stated regarding the steps taken by the Election Commission to conduct fair elections,' he said.

Referring to Mamata Banerjee's earlier statement, Sarkar said the West Bengal Chief Minister highlighted the universal use of mother tongues, beginning with children saying 'Maa,' and condemned the targeting of Bengali speakers. She called for a new Bhasha Andolan to raise awareness and organise programmes against the alleged persecution of Bengali-speaking people.

'We all speak our mother tongue. Children first speak 'Maa' in their mother tongue. However, a language war has been declared over the Bengali language. Another Bhasha Andolan should raise awareness among everyone. People are tortured for speaking Bengali in many places. People cannot be detained just for speaking Bengali. We cannot tolerate this. Programmes should be organised on this issue,' he said.

Earlier, on the issue of the State of Individual Registration (SIR), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI), claiming that the electoral body had removed 40 lakh voters from the list in Bihar and intended to do the same in West Bengal.

'ECI removed over 40 lakh names from the voters' list in Bihar, and now you want to do the same in Bengal? Try it, and we will launch a Gherao movement. We brought our people back from detention once, and we fought in court and won. We will not let this new law stand. We will fight, we will change it, we will not accept it', she said. (ANI)