Bangla Pokkho

Pronunciation	[baŋla pɔkʰːo]
Formation	7 January 2018 (6 years ago) (2018-01-07)
Founder	Garga Chatterjee
Founded at	West Bengal
Legal status	Active
Focus	Bengali nationalism in India
Headquarters	Kolkata
Location	India
Region served	West Bengal
Products	Bangla Pokkho Barta (Monthly newspaper)
Membership (2019)	200,000-300,000
Official language	Bengali
Website	www.banglapokkho.com

Bangla Pokkho (pronounced [baŋla pɔkʰːo]) is a pro-Bengali advocacy organization that focuses on rights for Bengalis in the Republic of India based on Bengali nationalism (not to be confused with Bangladeshi nationalism),^[1] and works against the Hindustani cultural and linguistic imperialism and forced domination of Hindi–Urdu speakers in West Bengal. It is organized along linguistic lines and aimed at protecting Bengali culture. It uses the Bengali slogan "Joy Bangla".^[2]

Demands and Protests

Bangla Pokkho majorly demands 100% reservation for residents of West Bengal in fields of Government job^[3] and 90% reservation in other job sectors, education, military, and administration works.^[4] The group has done numerous meetings, gatherings, and rallies throughout many places of West Bengal and Tripura.^[3][5]

Bangla pokkho also demanded for Bengali language in various exams i.e. Rail, JEE, NEET^[1] etc., and in Banks, offices, and other sectors. The group proposed that the top administrative officials in West Bengal must come from the WBCS/WBPS cadre and not the IAS/IPS.

Bangla Pokkho protested when Bengali workers in WBSEDCL were expelled as they were not fluent in English and Hindi. After protests, the company took them back and enacted them in respective places.^[6][7]

Massive controversy broke out when in the second season of the webseries ‘Abhay’, released on OTT platform Zee5, young Bengali freedom fighter Khudiram Bose was shown as a ‘criminal’ in its second episode. Bangla Pokkho along with many nationalist organisations protested and demanded the show to be banned.^[8] The group sent a legal notice to remove the scene.^[9] After that Zee5 edited and re-released the show cutting out the Khudiram image.^[10]

The group opposed the CAA and NRC, planned by the central government to be implemented in Bengal. Bangla Pokkho said that the BJP unlawfully had passed the laws in the parliament to break the unity of Hindus and Muslims.^[11]

The group also protested against the idea of the formation of Gorkhaland. They fired an idol of Subramaniyam Swami who proposed to make a separate state from West Bengal namely Gorkhaland ^[12]

Bangla Pokkho along with Kanchanpur Nagarik Surakkha Mancha met in a big protest in Tripura, that gathered more than 30,000 Bengalis in Tripura, complaining against social discrimination of Bengalis by the Tripura state BJP Government.^[13]

Major successes

• The West Bengal Public Service Commission, which is the body for tests for administrative posts in the Government of West Bengal marked the Bengali language mandatory with 300 marks in Bengali/Nepali language paper in the examination.^[14]
• Hindi and English languages were used in Kolkata Metro Rail smart cards. In this regard, the Bangla Pokkho protested and pointed out the non-use of the Bengali language in Bengali-speaking states and the use of Hindi to the exclusion of the Bengali. Bengali language was included in Kolkata Metro Rail smart card after this protest.^[15]
• The SET exam, used to recruit college faculties, introduced the Bengali language as a medium.^[16]
• Major banks and ATMs started to use the Bengali language in the bank forms, which were previously in Hindi and English only.^[17]

Support and criticism

As of January 2019, Bangla Pokkho claims to have 200,000-300,000 supporters.^[1] Supporters usually have a stand for the promotion and protection of Bengali culture. Bangla Pokkho is known to promote Hindu-Muslim unity among Bengalis. Maidul Islam, political analyst and faculty member of Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, terms this as the rise of the organic nationalist left of center, after the decline of Left and its class politics.^[18]

References

External links

• Official website