
Not only Bengalis, every citizen has right to go anywhere in India: Sen
Speaking to reporters at his ancestral home in Santiniketan, Sen said it doesn't matter whether a person is a Bengali, Punjabi or a Marwari, the freedom to go wherever he wants and speak whichever language he wants is his constitutional right. 'An Indian citizen has the right of movement in the entire country. There is no mention of territorial rights anywhere in our Constitution,' he said.
'Every citizen of India has the right to be happy. We have to respect everyone...,' he said on Thursday, responding to a question from reporters on the issue that has rocked the state.
Sen said if Bengalis are being tortured and neglected, it must be objected to.
'It is not a question of Bengal alone, but the whole country,' he added.
'The language that was integrated with 'Charyapad' (Bangla), its value must be acknowledged. Various poems have been written in that language. The messages of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam have been laid out very clearly in their works. These values must be acknowledged,' he said.
The TMC has been raising its voice over the last one month, alleging that Bengali-speaking people, especially poor Muslim migrant workers, are being harassed in BJP-ruled states and being branded illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

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Hindustan Times
2 minutes ago
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Business Standard
4 minutes ago
- Business Standard
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Hindustan Times
4 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
'56-inch chest': How Opposition reacted as India has 20 days to avoid 50% Trump tariffs
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Another Congress MP Shashi Tharoor escalated his criticism of Trump, urging the India government to respond in kind by raising tariffs on American goods. 'It will definitely have an impact because we have a trade of $90 billion with them, and if everything becomes 50 per cent more expensive, buyers will also think why should they buy Indian things?... If they do this, we should also impose a 50 per cent tariff on American exports... It is not that any country can threaten us like this,' he told reporters on Thursday. Tharoor questioned why India should continue with the current 17 per cent average tariff on US goods. 'Why should we stop at 17%? We should also raise it to 50 per cent... We need to ask them, do they not value our relationship? If India doesn't matter to them, they should also not matter to us,' he said. How other Opposition leaders reacted Abhishek Banerjee: Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee led the charge, calling the steep tariff hike a 'diplomatic failure". 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Siddaramaiah: In Karnataka, chief minister Siddaramaiah termed the tariff move 'economic blackmail' and said it was the result of Modi's obsession with 'headline management over real diplomacy.' Backing Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's criticism, Siddaramaiah said, 'His warning on Trump's 50 per cent tariff is no different. It is economic blackmail—the result of PM @narendramodi prioritising headline management over real diplomacy and national interest.' Siddaramaiah also accused Modi of pandering to Trump, recalling slogans like 'Abki Baar Trump Sarkar' and events like 'Howdy Modi' and 'Namaste Trump'. 'But Trump wasn't impressed. He saw it not as diplomacy, but surrender,' the chief minister said. Priyanka Chaturvedi: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called Trump's move 'hypocrisy' and said India cannot be bullied into a trade deal. 'The way Donald Trump is particularly targeting India about Russian Oil, totally forgetting his own hypocrisy of doing trade with Russia... 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'These tariffs will hurt Indian exporters, MSMEs, and manufacturers... Was selling out our strategic autonomy worth filling your friends' billionaire coffers?' he wrote on X. Uddhav Thackeray: The supremo of Shiv Sena (UBT) said Trump was 'mocking India and Narendra Modi' and that the PM had failed to respond strongly. 'Trump is mocking India and Narendra Modi. We are unable to respond to him, let alone seek answers from him. This government has failed on the foreign policy front,' he said. The latest round of criticism comes after Trump announced a separate 25% tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday, set to take effect in 21 days, in response to India's continued purchases of Russian oil. The decision has raised concerns about potential economic fallout across multiple sectors. The ministry of external affairs has termed the US action 'unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,' vowing to protect India's national interests.