A Bihar platform that gives voice to Bengalis outside Bengal

Kolkata: Authors Ajay and Chaitali Sanyal from Bihar’s Purnia district, Biswajit Nag from Meghalaya, and Satyajit Chowdhury and Aparna Deb from Assam – they are not just among the hundreds of writers who participated with their literary works in the 49th International Kolkata Book Fair that concluded on Tuesday, but another common thread binds them.

They came to the West Bengal capital to represent the Bengali diaspora of their states, put forward their voices and the struggle they face as linguistic minorities. The platform has been provided to them by Bengalee Association, Bihar, established in 1938 by then Patna High Court barrister Priya Ranjan Das, who was also the brother of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das.


A visit to their small corner stall at the Kolkata Book Fair, one is bound to notice the racks tagged with the names of different states and Union territories, from Andaman and Nicobar to Chhattisgarh, displaying the works of local Bengali authors, besides magazines published by Bengali organisations.

Like associate professor of Bangla, Tanmay Bir, who is honourary member of the association, mentioned the only Bengali magazine published from Andaman island, ‘Bakpratima’, besides ‘Madhyabalay’ from Madhya Pradesh and ‘Unmukta Uchchas’ from Delhi, that find a place in the stall.

There are books of authors not just from Bihar and other Hindi-speaking belts, but also from distant Northeast and Andaman & Nicobar.

Bir said they have been utilising the Kolkata Book Fair platform since 2022 to bring together the Bengali voices from different parts of the country, and preserve the culture and mother tongue, fast diminishing among the younger generation.

“The Bengalee Association was established in the pre-partition era to fight for the rights of the ethnic Bengalis, living in Bihar for generations, after the state was carved out of Bengal in 1912. While doing that we also thought of preserving our language and culture,” he said.

It has become all the more important now, as the modern world has given rise to what Bir calls a language crisis, with lack of Bengali education at school level, as a result, the younger generation residing outside West Bengal – not just in Bihar – doesn’t even know to read Bangla. “So, we decided to bring together small Bengali associations, besides writers working across India, giving them a platform at the book fair to put forward their voice and bring their works,” said Bir.

He added they also organised a discussion on the condition of Bangla language, culture and education outside West Bengal, where academics exchanged ideas about the issues faced by its speakers as a linguistic minority.

“At least 50,000 Bengalis reside in every state, barring one or two. We aim to connect with the old Bengali associations, which are losing sheen, like Bangiya Sahitya Parishats in Shillong and Bihar’s Bhagalpur, to raise our united voice against the crisis and preserve our heritage,” said Bir.

For writers like Nag and Deb, it has given them a platform not just to display their literary works for the larger audience but to witness first hand the writings by their counterparts in other parts of India.

“We come here every year with our books and connect with each other,” said Nag.

Deb said it's an attempt to attract the new generation towards the language. “We blame ourselves as guardians for not pushing our children enough towards the Bangla language. Also limited resources have a role to play,” she said.