Bengal peaceful state, those concerned about law & order should look at UP: CM

Siliguri: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday vehemently attacked BJP, without really naming it, for its repeated attempts to show Bengal in poor light in terms of the law and order situation.

She also slammed the Opposition for their criticism despite unparalleled development in the state made by her government.

In the same breath, she also added that those who raise questions regarding the state's law and order situation are the biggest "gundas". Condemning such attempts with malafide intention of defaming Bengal, she urged them to look into the law and order situation in BJP-run Uttar Pradesh.

Banerjee's comment comes at the time when a 19-year-old was gang-raped with "highhandedness" by the police allegedly leading to her death.

The Mamata Banerjee government has taken a series of steps to ensure overall development of North Bengal since it came to power in 2011. In a bid to continue the same, Banerjee visited North Bengal and held two-day long review meetings with Cooch Behar, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar amidst the Covid scenario.

While holding the review meeting on Wednesday at Uttar Kanya in Siliguri, Banerjee took a dig at the Opposition saying that canards are being spread despite massive development works.

"Never has North Bengal witnessed development work of such quantum as in the past nine years. But it really hurts when some say that nothing has taken place. Actually, such people always remain immersed in their own interests," Banerjee said.

She further added: "Bengal is the most peaceful state in the country. Those who raise questions on the law and order situation here are the biggest 'gundas' (violent criminals). They create chaos even if a minor mistake takes place while executing so much work and spend money to spread fake news. Politics does not mean spreading canards but it instead means taking responsibility."

Stating that 50,000 WhatsApp groups have been set up to spread fake news, the Chief Minister alerted the BDOs, Officers-in-Charge of police stations and Superintendents of Police to keep a close watch on social media. "They are creating WhatsApp groups against money to create riots. I cannot look into everything singlehandedly. All have to work together and with responsibility. Fake information is equivalent to psychological terror which is more painful than the physical one. This needs to be stopped," Banerjee said.

She further attacked the Centre for misleading people by claiming that the state-run projects were funded by them. "Some people are coming from other states and telling people that funds to distribute bicycles under Sabuj Sathi scheme was provided by the Centre when the entire investment is of the state government," Banerjee said after giving detailed information on the development works undertaken in North Bengal in the past nine years.