Bengal’s spine won’t bend: Abhishek Banerjee attacks Centre in fiery Budget debate
Telegraph | 11 February 2026
Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha leader and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee attempted to corner the Modi government over its treatment of Bengal and Bengalis during the discussion on the Union budget in Parliament on Tuesday.
In his emotive speech, Abhishek attacked the BJP for denying Bengal its due and harassing Bengali-speaking migrants, underlining that the saffron camp would lose the Bengal polls again this year.
“2016, 2021 and 2024. Three elections, three verdicts, three decisive defeats for the BJP in West Bengal…. And after this triple defeat, a fourth one (in the upcoming 2026 polls) is no longer a warning,” he said.
“The (central) government wants to punish Bengal. Let them proceed; we won't bow. You want to freeze our funds; we will persist…. You want to profile and persecute our youth; we will protect them. You want to starve our schemes; we will sustain our people," Abhishek said.
“Bengal’s spine was not ever bent by surrender nor softened by sermons of hate. It is forged in struggle, tempered in sacrifice, and is not for sale. Go ahead, send your audits; we will answer them. Unleash your agencies; we will confront them. Delay our clearances; we will chronicle every stolen day. But remember this, files can be frozen, funds can be stalled, voices can be suppressed, but memories can't be erased," he added.
The Diamond Harbour MP went on: “And when the people rise, when the people rise and the ballot breaks the silence, we will settle the final account. You will wear the mask of the Union. We will raise the mirror of the people and when truth looks back, power will bend and will have to blink first.”
Highlighting that Bengal wasn’t mentioned in Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech on February 1, Abhishek referred to comedian-actor Vir Das’s satirical monologue "Two Indias" to give a treatise on federalism.
“Bengal was not even mentioned once. Even the freight corridor from Dankuni referenced in this very budget was originally announced by the then railway minister in 2009, which was Mamata Banerjee…. But this government practises preference. Allies are funded while opponents are starved. So this is not a model of cooperative federalism. This is a model of subscription based federalism,” he said.
"Because I too, sir, come from two Indias," he said, addressing the Chair in the House, Telugu Desam Party MP K.P. Tenneti.
"And I come from an India which proclaims Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. And I also come from an India where mother tongue becomes a marker of suspicion, where speaking Bengali makes you a Bangladeshi and eating fish makes you a Mughal. Sir, I come from a part of India that gave birth to revolutionaries and wrote courage in blood. And I also represent an India where saying Joy Bangla or singing Amar Shonar Bangla is enough to strip you and brand you... an infiltrator."
“Sir, I come from an India that thunders Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas from every podium and I come from an India where Bengal's rightful dues to the tune of ₹1.96 lakh crores are frozen in cold bureaucratic silence. Sir, what is withheld is not just money. What is withheld is dignity. What is withheld is the constitutional promise that every Indian, every state stands equal before the union. This is not governance or federalism sir. This is a message that you stand in line or you'll be made to pay the price.”
Abhishek termed taxation as excessive and slammed the Centre on the US trade deal, saying: "The deal may benefit American farmers but it will depress prices, destroy competitiveness and further marginalise Indian farmers who struggle without MSP protection…. This is an abandonment of our annadata."