Protect Bengal's cultural identity, Bratya urges educators
Kolkata: Bengal education minister Bratya Basu on Sunday stressed the need to preserve Bengal's cultural identity amid growing religious polarisation in India.
Addressing the 33rd annual general meeting of All Bengal Principals' Council, he emphasised the crucial role of educators in safeguarding the state's heritage.
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"There is an alarming tendency to impose external identities in terms of language, food habits and religious narratives," he said, and drew parallels with the Bengali language movement during Bangladesh's liberation struggle.
The meeting, attended by Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, highlighted the growing tension between regional identity and national integration. Stressing national unity, Hakim declared: "We have only one identity — that we are Indians."
He also brought up the importance of constitutional values and secularism.
Rashbehari MLA Debashish Kumar made a distinction between religious faith and extremism. He said the declining number of rational thinkers was a national challenge, and called for educational intervention.
Basu called upon educational institutes to resist what he described as attempts to impose external cultural narratives on Bengal.
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