West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday led a rain-soaked, three-kilometre march through central Kolkata to protest what she called systematic harassment of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. Flanked by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other senior party leaders, the procession wound from College Square to Dorina Crossing under a security blanket of roughly 1,500 police officers and caused traffic diversions across the city. Addressing thousands of supporters at the rally’s end, Banerjee accused the BJP and the Centre of labelling Bengali speakers as “Bangladeshi Rohingyas” and threatened a “dire political backlash” if detentions continued. She pledged to challenge what she described as secret central government notices sent to BJP-governed states authorising the arrest of Bengali speakers, declaring, “Put me in a detention camp if you can; we will fight inch by inch.” The protest follows the recent detention of 444 suspected Bangladeshi nationals in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district, about 200 of whom the TMC claims were legitimate migrant workers from West Bengal. Banerjee said roughly 2.2 million Bengalis work outside the state with valid identity papers and should not face discrimination. Similar demonstrations were held in district towns across West Bengal and come a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit, underscoring the heightened political stakes ahead of the 2026 state assembly election. BJP leaders rejected the allegations. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari contended that the TMC march aimed to shield illegal immigrants and called for the removal of alleged Rohingya names from West Bengal’s voter rolls. The exchange signals a deepening confrontation between the state government and the BJP over migration, identity politics and electoral strategy.