There has been a ruckus when Delhi Police calls Bangla language ‘Bangladeshi’.
There has been a ruckus due to the alleged Delhi Police calling Bangla language ‘Bangladeshi’. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee targeted the Delhi Police fiercely and called this action anti -national. He has shared a letter of Delhi Police on social media platform X. It is written with this that it is shameful that Delhi Police is calling Bangla a ‘Bangladeshi’ language, Bangla is our mother tongue. It is the language of Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda. This is the language in which even the national anthem and the national anthem is written. Calling it Bangladeshi language is an insult to the Constitution.
Let’s know how Bangla language was born? How much Bangla is spoken in India and abroad? When was there a dispute on this and how did it reach other countries?
Bangla status of classical language
Bangla is actually one of the major languages of India, which has its own important place in the cultural and linguistic history of the Indian subcontinent. Bangla writers have played an important role in not only Bengal, but also in creating the national consciousness of the country. Bangla literature has played a unique role in the first translation of Sanskrit epics to revolutionary writing in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has played an important role in social, political and intellectual movement.
The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given classical language status on October last year (03 October 2024) along with Marathi, Pali, Asami and Prakrit language.
It is believed that Bangla language is born from Indo-Aryan languages. Photo: Rehman Asad/Nurphoto Via Getty Images
How Bangla born?
As far as the origin of Bangla language is concerned, it forms a linguistic group in South East Zone with Assamese, Odia, Magadhi, Maithili and Bhojpuri. Its immediate source is found in Magadhi Prakrit or Eastern Prakrit language, which has come from Magadha (now part of Bihar). Along with other eastern languages, Gaur Bang language has also developed with Magadha Apabhramsa.
In fact, it is generally believed that Bangla language is born from Indo-Aryan languages, which is the Indian sub branch of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. In the Indian subcontinent, literary documents of Indo-Aryan languages are divided into three times on the basis of their linguistic change. Old Indo-Aryan between 1500 BC to 600 BC, Middle Indo Aryan between 600 BC to 1000 AD and the language from 1000 AD to the present is placed in the New Indo-Aryan language group.
The current Bengali language comes in the New Indo Aryan category, which has developed from Middle Indo Aryan. After the 16th century, Bangla literature developed in three different stages. It is classified from Old Bangla (1000 AD to 1350 AD), Middle Bangla (1350 to 1800 AD) and Modern Bangla (from 1800 AD to current).
CM Mamta Banerjee shared the post on x
See now how delhi police under the direct control of ministry of home, government of India is describing bengali as ”Bangladeshi” language!
Bengali, our mother tongue, the language of rabindranath tagore and swami vivekananda, the language in which our national antenance and the pic.twitter.com/2ACUYEHSX8
– Mamata Bnerjee (@MamataOFFICIAL) August 3, 2025
How many Bangla speakers in India?
There is a large number of Bangla speakers in India. It is mainly spoken in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar groups. It is the second most spoken language after Hindi in India and it speaks about 9.72 crore people in the country, whose number is equal to 8.03 percent of the total population of India.
When Pakistan was formed after India’s independence, East Pakistan was completely Bangla speaking. After the Bangladesh liberation struggle, a new country Bangladesh was born, where the majority of population is Bangla speaking. The national anthem of Bangladesh is also the creation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and that too is in Bangla language.
How many people in the world speak Bangla?
Apart from India and Bangladesh, it is also spoken in countries where Bangla -speaking migrants live. These people took Bangla language with them. These include Pakistan, Bangladesh which was once part. Therefore Bangla speaking is found there. Apart from this, countries like the United Arab Emirates, America, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Britain, Malaysia, Myanmar, Australia and Canada live a large number of Bengali speaking.
According to an estimate, 242 million people all over the world consider Bangla as their mother tongue. At the same time, 43 million people use it as their second language. Therefore, it is the sixth most spoken basic language in the world.
Dispute for political gains in India
There have been politically disputes about the Bengali language in India. After independence, politicians created controversy many times to promote Bangla language in eastern states of the country, especially in West Bengal. This dispute was something in the same way as a dispute was arose for Marathi in Maharashtra recently. At some point, an anti -Hindi movement was also launched in West Bengal and the names written in Hindi of the stations were given a vessel. Especially in the 1980s and 90s, such movements were seen a lot.
Controversy over Bangla language in Pakistan, Bangladesh born
After the partition of the country, there was a lot of controversy in Pakistan about Bangla. After the formation of Pakistan, the official language there tried to impose Urdu Bangla speakers, then there was anger among the Bengali speakers. The result of this was that in the year 1952, students of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) agitated to make Bangla an official language.
Many people lost their lives in this. Bangla language and Bangla speakers’ identity defense was also an important reason behind the 1972 Bangladesh liberation struggle, due to which Bangladesh was finally born.
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