A woman took issue with a Bengali passenger, who spoke her native language instead of Hindi, on a Kolkata Metro train. “This is not Bangladesh,” she was heard telling the Bengali woman in a video that has since gone viral.

“You are in India,” the woman said. “West Bengal is a part of India, you must be learning Hindi. You can speak in Bengali but not in Hindi despite living in India?”

The Bengali woman responded in her native tongue, “I live in West Bengal, in my homeland, not yours. How can you stay in my state and insult me for speaking in Bengali?”

This fuelled the argument further, with the non-Bengali woman pressing the issue, “The metro is not yours. West Bengal is not yours.”

It got even more heated when the Bengali passenger hit back, saying, “The metro is mine, so is West Bengal. The metro here was made using the money of taxpayers in West Bengal, not by the tax paid by the people of your home state.”

As the argument escalated, the non-Bengali woman continued to challenge the Bengali passenger’s use of Bengali, repeatedly asking, “You are an Indian, right? Then why don’t you know Hindi?” This only angered onlookers, with several passengers stepping in and urging both women to calm down and de-escalate the situation.

However, the confrontation took a more sensitive turn when the non-Bengali woman brought Bangladesh into the discussion. “You are not in Bangladesh,” she said. This comment seemed to further rile up the other passengers, with several confronting her for her perceived disrespect toward the region.

Video from Kolkata Metro:
1. Do you see a Kannadiga, Marathi or a Bengali cause a ruckus demanding their language to be spoken by everyone, everywhere in India?
2. Is there a correlation between Hindi-speaking and muscle development in the brain? pic.twitter.com/4YZ3XB3ngM

— Goutam Dass (@GoutamDass) November 21, 2024

The video has since gone viral, sparking a furious reaction across the internet.

A user commented, “This is because we Bengal are so timid and tolerant towards every insult made to us. Had this incident occurred down the South, they would have shown her the right place. Hell with her arrogance. This was possible only because she was in Bengal.”

This is because we Bengal is are so timid and tolerant towards every insult made to us. Had this incident occurred down the South, they would have shown her the right place. Hell with her arrogance.This was possible only because she was in Bengal.

— Bipasha Ghosh (@Bipasha64222254) November 21, 2024

Someone said, “These people have become Hindi preachers and are speaking English themselves, what kind of people are they? What difference does it make in which language you speak? This lady should be booked for disrupting communal/lingual harmony and peace.”

हिंदी प्रीचर्स बने हैं और खुद अंग्रेजी भोंक रहे हैं, ये कैसे लोग हैं?
आप किस भाषा में बोल रहे हो उससे क्या फर्क पड़ता है?

This lady should be booked for disrupting communal / lingual harmony and peace.

— Vivek Pant (@vivekair) November 24, 2024

“Now they are speaking English in India. What kinda woke people are they?” a comment read.

Now they are speaking English in India. What kinda woke people are they?!! ????

— bikidas2060 (@Debashi07401424) November 22, 2024

This incident follows a similar controversy in Bengaluru, where a local man confronted a non-Kannada speaker for not learning the language despite having lived in the state for over 12 years. He accused the individual of being “disrespectful” to the local culture and language, saying, “You want a job here, you want a salary here, but you don’t want the language here.” He added, “At least learn Kannada, okay? This is Bengaluru, not Mumbai or Gujarat.”

New Delhi:

In a major decision, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved giving the status of “classical language” to five more languages –  Marathi, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit and Assamese. With this cabinet decision, the number of languages that have the status will nearly double from six to 11. 

The languages that had the tag earlier were Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. Tamil was granted the status in 2004 and the last language to get it was Odia, in 2014.