Kolkata (West Bengal): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said, no one from Bangladesh will be turned away if anyone comes knocking at the doors.
Mamata was addressing a mega July 21 Martyr’s Day rally of her Trinamool Congress at the Esplanade area of Kolkata. The Chief Minister, however, said she would not speak much on the subject as Bangladesh is an independent country and anything more needs to be said about the ongoing situation in that country will be the Indian Government, which will say.
Raising the issue at the far end of her speech, Mamata said, "We are aware of the situation in neighbouring Bangladesh and if anyone has gone to Bangladesh to study or if someone is here for treatment and has got stuck due to the situation in that country, if any kind of assistance is needed, we are there."
"I can only say that if any helpless person knocks on the door of Bengal, we will surely give shelter. Because it is the rule of the United Nations. If someone is a refugee, the person is respected in the surrounding areas and the neighbourhood. Earlier in Assam, there were some ethnic disturbances. A lot of people had fled and had taken refuge in Alipurduar for a long time. I also went to meet them,” Mamata said adding, "I will not say anything about the situation in Bangladesh. It is a different country. The central government will say about this."
The Chief Minister had a word of caution for both the people as well as her party workers about the ongoing situation in Bangladesh.
"I urge everyone present here as well as across the state, not to indulge in any rumour-mongering or create tension. I have sympathy for the situation there. Young people, students are the victims there. We are watching the situation closely," she said.
Bangladesh's top court on Sunday scaled back a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in a partial victory for student protesters after days of nationwide unrest and deadly clashes between police and demonstrators that have killed scores of people.
Students, frustrated by shortages of good jobs, have been demanding an end to a quota that reserved 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's War of Independence in 1971. The government previously halted it in 2018 following mass student protests, but in June, Bangladesh's High Court reinstated the quotas and set off a new round of protests. The violent protests between law enforcement agencies and the agitating students have claimed several lives. The Army and the Bangladesh Border Guards have been called upon by the Sheikh Hasina government to restore law and order.
