BJP tears into Mamata, says she worsened the situation for political gains

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 8 (ANI): Tearing into the West Bengal Government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday the latter did not control the situation for her own political gains.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal said Mamata let the condition worsen in the state in order to appease the people of one community, adding that the people of West Bengal would not forgive her for this.

"I strongly condemn the West Bengal Government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who did not control the situation for her own political gains. People will not forgive the politics of discrimination," Goyal said.

The BJP leader further said that Mamata is trying to divert attention from her administrative failures by levelling false allegations against the Centre.

"For political gains, she (Mamata) let the situation worsen there by not letting a proper police investigation take place. We strongly condemn the way attack took place on the people of one community and their houses vandalised," he said.

Countering the West Bengal Chief Minister's allegations of the Centre not cooperating in maintaining law and order, Goyal narrated the entire sequence of events, adding that all their demands were addressed on a priority basis.

"The present situation which she is projecting is wrong. Situation is that when the West Bengal Government asked for four forces, the Centre immediately deployed four companies of the BSF in Basirhat. After that, the request for four more companies was made, for which the orders were given immediately. However, when the forces were to leave for the region, then a letter was received from the Principal Secretary (Home) thanking the Central Government for sending the forces and intimating that the situation is under control, therefore, expressing no need of central forces," he said.

Similarly, Goyal quoted about Darjeeling saying eleven companies were deployed in Darjeeling as soon as the request for it was made, but the state government tried to send.

"This clearly indicates that she does not want normalcy in the region," he said.

Earlier, hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Central Government of non-cooperation towards quelling unrest in North Parganas' Basirhat district in the state, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sources said that at least four companies of the Border Security Forces (BSF) forces that were deployed by the Centre were turned back by the West Bengal Government.

According to the sources, the Centre had already sent 11 companies of personnel to Darjeeling to quell the unrest taken out by people demanding a separate Gorkhaland.

Hours before, Mamata accused Centre of creating tension in the state. She alleged that there was non-cooperation from the Centre to curb violence in the state.

Meanwhile, the North 24 Parganas Superintendent of Police (SP) Bhaskar Mukherjee has been removed and C. Sudharkar Rao will take over the post.

Violent clashes erupted in the Basirhat area of the district after a Class X student updated a controversial picture on Facebook.

The boy was later detained by police, but the violence hasn't abated.

Fresh tension was reported in Basirhat area days after too forcing the police to lob tear gas shells and resort to baton charge even as the state government decided to ban some organisations for allegedly instigating people. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI