West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee braved rain to hold a massive march in Kolkata on Wednesday to protest against the 'harassment' of Bengali migrants in BJP-ruled states.

Banerjee, who is seeking to return to power for the fourth straight term in the state where Assembly polls are scheduled to be held next year, set the poll bugle with the rally, just two days before PM Narendra Modi's state visit.

Sharing images and videos of her march, Banerjee's Trinamool Congress wrote on X: "It was a mass uprising against @BJP4India ’s relentless assault on Bengali identity and dignity. Thousands of determined voices flooded the streets, all united in one message: Bengal will not be silenced."

Top leaders of the political outfit, including MP Abhishek Banerjee, joined the march that was held in the heart of the East Indian city.

Targeting the Centre, Mamata Banerjee dared the government to put her in a detention camp.

Following the rally, she said: "I have decided that I will speak in Bengali more."

"Put me in a detention camp," she dared the Centre.

The last time Mamata held a rally was in August last year on the RG Kar issue.

The protest march, which comes just days before TMC's Martyrs' Day rally, is aimed at countering BJP's Hindutva campaign flagging the atrocities Bengali-speaking people are allegedly facing in other states.

The strong condemnation came from the TMC, which brands BJP as an anti-Bengali party, after Bengali-speaking people were allegedly harassed and called Bangladeshis in other states despite furnishing necessary documents.

As per reports, the supplies of essential services like water and electricity were stopped for the Bengali residents in BJP-ruled states.

The ruling party of West Bengal has also raised the issue of objection to a Bengali fish market in Delhi's Chittaranjan Park.

Reports claim the Bengali residents have been threatened to be sent to Bangladesh through NRC despite having required documents.

Citing one reported incident from Delhi, Mamata had posted on X, "... There are over 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal who live with dignity. But the same cannot be said for BJP-ruled states, where Bengalis are being treated as infiltrators in their own country. Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi. These individuals are as much citizens of India as anyone else, regardless of what language they speak..."

Flagging an issue from Assam where a resident of Cooch Behar was allegedly served an NRC notice, the TMC supremo said, "I am shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam has issued an NRC notice to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a Rajbanshi, resident of Dinhata in Cooch Behar for over 50 years. Despite furnishing valid identity documents, he is being harassed on suspicion of being a "foreigner/illegal migrant."

"This is nothing short of a systematic assault on democracy. It is proof that the ruling BJP dispensation in Assam is attempting to implement NRC in Bengal, where it holds no power or jurisdiction. A premeditated attempt is being made to intimidate, disenfranchise, and target marginalised communities. This unconstitutional overreach is anti-people, and exposes BJP’s dangerous agenda of bulldozing democratic safeguards and erasing the identity of Bengal's people."

Bengal migrant welfare board chairperson and Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam said on Sunday that a 52-year-old woman- named Arati- from Cooch Behar returned to West Bengal after her plea to include her name in the NRC was rejected.

Arati, as Islam claims, moved to Assam after marrying a man from the northeastern state in 1991. The foreigners tribunal has rejected her plea to get her name listed in the NRC.

Her sister-in-law also faced the same fate.

"I was extremely depressed when I was first asked to leave Assam in 2019 or face consequences. But I have learnt to live with it," she told TMC leaders as reported by The Times of India.

In a subdued response to the TMC's charges, Union Minister of State and ex-BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, "Mamata Banerjee tried to bring the Bengali identity issue when the elections are round the corner. But this time, Bengalis can't be fooled."

Prime Minister Modi will hold a rally in Durgapur on Friday.