New Delhi/Kolkata: Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy has created another controversy by commenting that ear of Bengal’s stalwarts is “long gone” and that Bengalis boys are “sweeping the floors in homes” and Brngali girls are “bar dancers in Mumbai.” Mr Roy tweeted this on June 4 in response to protest in some states against “imposition” of Hindi. West Bengal’s ruling TMC’s new women outfit ‘Banga Janani Vahini’ on Thursday held a protest in Kolkata against the Meghalaya governor’s comment.

Arguing that Bengalis’ opposition to learning Hindi was political, the Meghalaya governor had claimed that many boys in Bengal are “now sweeping floors” in other states, while the Bengali girls are working as “bar dancers” in Mumbai.

“..There is no great opposition. They only make noise for political reasons. Assam, Maharashtra, Odisha are also non-Hindi speaking states but they don’t oppose Hindi. The second argument is Bengal is the land of Vidyasagar, Vivekananda, Rabindranath and Netaji so why should Bengalis learn Hindi...What is the link between these great men and opposition to learning Hindi? Secondly, who will explain to them that the era of these stalwarts is long gone, and the greatness of Bengal is gone too. Now from Haryana to Kerala, Bengali boys are sweeping the floors in homes and Bengali girls are bar dancers in Mumbai, which was unthinkable before,” tweeted the former BJP leader.

Earlier this year, Mr Roy’s tweet endorsing an appeal made by a former armyman to boycott Kashmiri products had created a major political furore.