Delhi Police FIR stirs 'Bangladeshi language' row

05-Aug-2025

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A legitimate arrest of an illegal immigrant in Delhi has spiralled into a politically charged controversy, after an internal communication by the Delhi Police allegedly referred to Bengali as a "Bangladeshi language". 

The error, though seemingly minor, stirred a political storm, especially in poll-bound West Bengal, where language and identity are deeply intertwined. The alleged error pitted the Centre and the Trinamool Congress against each other.

The Delhi Police has not issued a formal statement on the language error, allowing political parties to dominate the narrative. The BJP defended the terminology, with National Information in-charge Amit Malviya writing on X, "Nowhere in the Delhi Police letter is Bangla or Bengali described as a 'Bangladeshi' language."

Malviya added, "Delhi Police is absolutely right in referring to the language as Bangladeshi in the context of identifying infiltrators.” However, his comment that “dialects like Sylheti are nearly incomprehensible to Indian Bengalis" triggered backlash.