The Anti-Hindi agitations of West Bengal were a series of agitations that took place in the Indian state of West Bengal. Movements against Hindi imposition were mainly conducted through social media, road meetings, demonstrations and deputation submissions. Road meetings, protest and deputation submission programs were initially centered in the city of Kolkata or Kolkata metropolitan area but later spread to various divisional cities and district cities of West Bengal. All these movements were organized by organizations like Amra Bangali, Bangla Pokkho and Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan. [1] [2] [3]
Since the end of the second decade of the 21st century, various organizations have organized road meetings and agitations against the use of Hindi or Hindi and English languages except Bengali on the nameplates of various institutions of West Bengal, national highways, Banks and Kolkata Metro. [1]
Amra Bangali started a political program in the 1980s to promote the Bengali language. However, the party's activities were confined to the northern part of the West Bengal.
The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science issued a notification to the staffs of institution on March 19, 2021, stating that 55% of written communication in institutions should be done in Hindi. [4] staffs organized protests against imposition of Hindi in university. Students protested by writing 'No Hindi Imposition' on the institution grounds and stood maintaining social distance. But the notification was only for administrative staff. [4]
West Bengal is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) as of 2011. The population estimate as of 2023 is 102,552,787. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.
Amra Bangali is a political party in India, based on the socio-economic and political philosophy Progressive Utilization Theory given by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar; the party was sparked off in reaction against anti-Bengali rhetoric in Northeast India. Amra Bangali enjoyed a short stint in the spotlight in the mid-1980s when it even won some gram panchayat seats in border districts. Today, AMB is involved in various movements and protests including those against the Darjeeling Gorkhas calling for the creation of new state of Gorkhaland. It protested National Register of Citizens for Assam and Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
The Bengali language movement was a political movement in former East Bengal in 1952, advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as a co-lingua franca of the then-Dominion of Pakistan to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.
Bina Das was an Indian revolutionary and nationalist from West Bengal.
The Pashchimbanga Bangla Akademi is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in India. It was founded on 20 May 1986 in Kolkata to act as the official authority of the language and is entrusted with the responsibility of reforming Bengali spelling and grammar, compiling dictionaries, encyclopedias and terminologies and promoting Bengali language and culture in West Bengal. They are widely accepted by the Governments of West Bengal and Tripura as well as a considerable number of private publishing houses and institutions such as the Oxford University Press and the Ramakrishna Mission.
The anti-Hindi-imposition agitations in Tamil Nadu have been ongoing intermittently in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu since the early 20th century. The agitations involve several mass protests, riots, student and political movements in Tamil Nadu concerning the official status of Hindi in the state.
Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern educational institution in Asia. The institution played a key role during Bengal Renaissance period. It is located on College Street, in the vicinity of Hare School, College Square, Presidency University, Sanskrit College, Calcutta Medical College and the University of Calcutta.
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibdas Ghosh, Nihar Mukherjee and others in 1948.
All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) is a student organisation in India. It was founded on 28 December 1954. AIDSO demands scientific, secular and democratic education for all. Its motto is struggle, unity, progress.
Rakhal Das Banerji, also Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian archaeologist and an officer of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1919, he became the second ASI officer deputed to survey the site of Mohenjo-daro and returned there in the 1922-23 season. He was the first person to propose the remote antiquity of the site—which he did in a letter to Marshall in 1923—and in effect of the Harappan culture. After leaving the ASI, he held the Manindra Chandra Nandy professorship of Ancient Indian History and Culture at the Banaras Hindu University from 1928 until his premature death in 1930.
Bengali nationalism is a form of nationalism that focuses on Bengalis as a single ethnicity by rejecting imposition of other languages and cultures while promoting its own in Bengal. Bengalis speak the Bengali language and mostly live across Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. Bengali nationalism is one of the four fundamental principles according to the Constitution of Bangladesh and was the main driving force behind the creation of the independent nation state of Bangladesh through the 1971 liberation war. Bengali Muslims make up the majority (90%) of Bangladesh's citizens (Bangladeshis), and are the largest minority in the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal, whereas Bengali Hindus make up the majority of India's citizens (Indians) in Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of Assam and Jharkhand and the independent state of Bangladesh (8%).
Bhupendra Nath Bose was an Indian politician and President of the Indian National Congress in 1914.
Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 250 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language.
DD Bangla is an Indian Bengali-language free-to-air state-owned television network owned by state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan, established on 20 August 1992. It is the successor of Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata, established on 9 August 1975. It broadcasts from Kolkata, Shantiniketan and Jalpaiguri, and is headquartered in the Golf Green neighbourhood of Kolkata.
The Bengali Language Movement of Manbhum was a cultural and political movement that took place in the then Bihar Province from 1912 to 1956. Post independence, between 1948 and 1956, the language movement spread intensely among the Bengalis of Manbhum. Through this movement created around the Bengali language, the public demand for the establishment of Bengali as one of the official languages of the Bihar, mainly Manbhum, was expressed. This language movement was first ever linguistic movement for Bengali language and the longest language movement in the world.
The Bengali Language Movement is a campaign to preserve Bengali language and Bengalis culture and to oppose anti-Bengali sentiment in India. The movement was started in Manbhum in 1940, ahead of the Partition of India which allocated eastern Bengal to the new nation of Pakistan and led to the relocation of many Bengali communities. In 1947 British India bifurcated into India and Pakistan. The population of the eastern part of Bengal was majority Muslim, and was incorporated into Pakistan. Bengali Hindus in this eastern region migrated to India, principally settling in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Dandakaranya and Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka. The Movement remains prominent in Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
Bangla Pokkho is a pro-Bengali advocacy organisation that focuses on rights for Bengalis in the Republic of India. Based on Bengali nationalism, it works against the enforcing of the Hindustani language in West Bengal. It is organised along linguistic lines and is aimed at protecting Bengali culture. It uses the state slogan "Joy Bangla".
Anti-Bengali sentiment comprises negative attitudes and views on Bengalis. This sentiment is present in several parts of India: Gujarat, Bihar, Assam, and various tribal areas. etc. Issues include discrimiation in inhabitation, other forms of discrimination, political reasons, government actions, anti-Bangladeshi sentiment, etc. The discriminative condition of Bengalis can be traced from Khoirabari massacre, Nellie massacre, Silapathar massacre, North Kamrup massacre, Goreswar massacre, Bongal Kheda, etc. This has led to emergence of Bengali sub-nationalism in India as a form of protest and formation of many pro-Bengali organisations in India.
The protest against the death of Anish Khan, also known as the justice for Anish Khan protest, began on 18 February 2022 after the death of All India Students' Federation (AISF) leader Anish Khan. The AISF, Students' Federation of India, All India Students Association and other organizations organised protests, including rallies, human chains and demonstrations. The protests began in Jadavpur and Park Circus, initiated by students at Aliah University, then rapidly spread across the state of West Bengal and throughout India.
Azad Hind Manch was an organization of rebels from the Forward Bloc who have resigned or been expelled from the party for questioning the "undemocratic functioning" and ideological deviations of the leadership. On 21 June 2022, the Azad Hind Manch was formed under the leadership of Ali Imran Ramz and other rebels.