KMC makes Bengali mandatory in monthly meetings amid row over language in BJP-ruled states
A recent directive from KMC chairperson Mala Roy asked all mayoral council members and councillors to use Bengali during the question hour in future sessions.
This comes after the House's monthly session last week, where a TMC councillor from Ward 49 posed her question in English. After the question was placed, Roy instructed Mayor Firhad Hakim to reply in Bengali. Roy then announced that henceforth, all KMC proceedings would be conducted in Bengali.
According to KMC officials, Roy has also ordered her office to conduct all official business — including monthly meetings — in Bengali.
Speaking to the media, Roy said, 'From now on, the monthly meetings will be held in Bengali. Now, even in Parliament, we will speak in Bengali. Earlier, that was not the case. The state has already taken steps so that the signboards are written mainly in Bengali, and now in monthly meetings the questions and answers will be conducted in Bengali. We will be informing all in this regard.'
According to KMC sources, steps would be taken to ensure that councillors submit their queries in Bengali going forward. However, many pointed out that there had been no language restriction earlier.
Sajal Ghosh, the BJP councillor from Ward 50, said, 'Why restrict Bengali to just the monthly meetings? Why not make all KMC signages fully Bengali, removing Urdu? Why does official KMC stationery still carry Urdu script?'
After a recent 'Talk to Mayor' session, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said that signboards and hoardings of all commercial establishments, including shops and restaurants, must be written in Bengali, along with other languages.
Last year, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation mandated the use of Bengali language on all commercial signboards, including hoardings, alongside other languages. A deadline of February 21, 2025, was set for implementation of the rule.
'The KMC authority has decided that henceforth it is mandatory to write Bengali language on top of all the signboards/signages/hoardings alongside any other languages. For this purpose, we also need to check and implement the same in all establishments of KMC (including KMC HQ, Borough Offices, KMC Health Centers, KMCP Schools),' the order had stated.
A similar initiative was announced by the KMC in 2007 under then-Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, requiring shop owners to include Bengali on signboards. However, it was not successfully implemented.
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