Firearms being smuggled across borders to divide Bengal: Mamata

The bifurcation of the State is an emotive political issue, and no mainstream political party has officially come in support of such demands

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that firearms were being smuggled from Bihar and across international borders to separate north Bengal from the state.

Speaking at an administrative meeting in Nadia district, the Chief Minister alleged that vehicles of VIPs were being used to smuggle arms, and directed district authorities to take action against such attempts. 

The bifurcation of the State is an emotive political issue and no mainstream political parties have officially come in support of such demands. Demands of creation of a separate state out of north Bengal are often raised by certain groups. Recently, a section of BJP lawmakers both MPs and MLAs from north Bengal, has made statements supporting such demands. The issue of creation of Gorkhaland has dominated the politics of Darjeeling hills since the 1980s.

During the meeting, Ms. Banerjee also urged police officials to keep up the vigil as some want to incite riots in the State. “Keep an eye on communal pockets; some have plans to incite violence from December. They want to incite communal riots. They have already started it in Karnataka,” Ms. Banerjee said. 

She said that she was making an appeal from Nadia, the land of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that peace was the only solution. The State’s Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya was on the stage along with the Chief Minister when she made these remarks.

Recently, a communal flareup was reported in Kolkata’s Mominpur area and the Calcutta High Court had directed the setting up of a special investigation team to probe the matter.

Ms. Banerjee also urged that all above 18 years should enlist their name in the voter lists. The Chief Minister asked the authorities not to strike off the names of those “who belong to a different religion”.