West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday set the tone of the 2026 state elections from the stage of her July 21 Martyrs' Day rally in Kolkata, where she targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government and several states ruled by the saffron outfit and accused them of launching a systematic attack on the Bengali identity.

She warned of launching a new language movement to protest the alleged branding of Bengali-speaking people as Bangladeshis.

“I am asking everyone to go home and prepare for a larger language movement,” Banerjee said.

“There must be street protests against the continuous attacks on the Bengali language," the West Bengal CM said.

Highlighting the Rohingya issue, Banerjee, who has been ruling the state for the past three terms, said: "A BJP leader even claimed that 17 lakh Rohingyas live in Bengal. In Myanmar there are only 10 lakh Rohingyas. From where 17 lakh Rohingyas will come?”

She said the Centre is afraid of the 'Bengali legacy and courage'.

Banerjee said: "This is the land of Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra, and Kazi Nazrul. Why are you scared of our language?”

Mamata, who heads the TMC, was joined by her top party leaders, including her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, at the annual event that is organised primarily to pay tributes to the 13 people who died in a police firing in Kolkata in 1993 during an agitation against the Left Front government.

Mamata as the youth leader of her then party Congress was leading a rally demanding that identity cards be made mandatory to cast votes.

The Chief Minister, who held a roadshow in Kolkata last week, is likely to raise the Bengali identity issue in the backdrop of the alleged harassment of the Bengali migrants in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.

Modi's tough message on infiltration

Modi on Friday accused the TMC of backing the infiltrators for its alleged appeasement politics and endangering "Bengal's unique identity".

Addressing a mega rally in Durgapur, Modi asserted the "infiltrators will be dealt with according to the Constitution".

The Prime Minister accused the TMC of issuing "fake identity cards" to the infiltrators.

"For the BJP, Bengali identity is paramount. But what is happening here? Trinamool is endangering Bengal’s unique culture for its own interests. They are allowing infiltrators in, issuing them fake identity cards.

"They have created an entire ecosystem that is harming both the country and Bengal. In their pursuit of appeasement, they have crossed all limits. They are even taking to the streets in support of infiltrators. They are threatening the Constitution and constitutional institutions of the country," said the Prime Minister.