Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday accused the Border Security Force (BSF) of facilitating infiltration from Bangladesh as part of the Narendra Modi-led central government's blueprint to foment communal troubles in the state.
"The BSF is allowing the trespassers to sneak in. We have information that infiltrators are crossing over through Islampur, Sitai and Chopra. There are complaints against BSF of women harassment," Banerjee said while speaking at an administrative review meeting at the state secretariat, Nabanna.
She tasked West Bengal DG Rajiv Kumar with preparing a report on the porous areas of the border and the role of BSF and submitting it to the government in a fortnight.
"We are not responsible for guarding the border and it’s the BSF who should be taking care of it. We even don't issue the visas of the infiltrators as the job rests with the Centre. We have no information about it and are in the dark about which people are sneaking in," she said.
"If someone thinks Bengal can be tarnished by allowing trespassing, that will never materialise. Trinamool Congress is not doing so as it doesn’t have the right to. BSF controls the border areas and some people are spreading lies about it. Trinamool is being blamed instead of BSF. I tell them to restrain and be compassionate. I got some information from the locals and the DG. I have sought detailed information about it to pen a strong letter to the Centre,” the CM said.
Dragging Bangladesh, she questioned why such things are happening as Bengal wants peace on either side of the border. The relationship between the two Bengals, she said, never soured as everyone spoke the same language for ages.
"People from there (Bangladesh) come to Bengal for treatment and others can also come on humanitarian grounds, she said.
"Goons are being sent to Bengal to kill people here. This is being done by BSF insiders," she said, claiming the "blueprint" of the Centre is at play behind it as it can’t happen without its tacit support.
She said Bengal has always maintained the Centre’s line on the Bangladesh issue but will never tolerate someone giving safe passage to terrorists to the state for creating trouble. The state government will take the matter up with the Centre and dispatch a protest letter, she said.
Banerjee’s remarks on infiltration and the role of the border guards gain significance as they come at a time when India’s eastern neighbour has been marred by the accusation of unabated persecution of minorities.
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