Siliguri: On a visit to the Cooch Behar district, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday chaired an administrative meeting at the Rabindra Bhawan, where she laid foundation stones for 261 projects worth Rs 744 crore for the North Bengal districts, along with inaugurating 428 projects at a total cost of Rs 1118 crore.
Asking the police to be more active, she said: “Cooch Behar is a border district. The police have to be alert and ensure that law and order prevails. No unwarranted interference should be tolerated. If police from other states come to arrest anyone in Bengal, they have to first get a clearance from our police. Police need to be proactive and concentrate on border areas. Patrolling and Naka Checkings have to be intensified in the border areas.”
Training guns at the ongoing SIR exercise, she said: “Why the SIR suddenly. Why does it have to be completed in two weeks? It is just a bid to create hindrance to development activities by engaging the administrative officials like the BDOs just before the elections.”
Stressing that development works must not be neglected, she said: “I know BLOs and BLAs are extremely busy, but we need to conduct the SIR work along with development. This delay has been created deliberately to stall progress. However, development is a continuous process. Everyone must help the BLOs and BLAs. I will urge the DMs that if any irregularity occurs, they must step in and support them.”
She urged all to appear for hearings if called with the necessary documents. “We will start ‘May I Help You’ camps from December 12. Visit these camps if you need any assistance,” she advised.
“Many Rajbanshis received detention notices from the Foreign Tribunal in Assam. There, 12 lakh Hindus and 7 lakh Muslims were struck off the voter list. Now they call all Bengalis Bangladeshis, who knows where these decisions come from?” she questioned.
She stated that historically, Bharat included present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. After Independence, the region was divided, and people chose where to live. When Bangladesh was formed, many came to India through Bengal and settled here.
“Bangladesh is a separate country and West Bengal is a separate state of India. The language may be the same, but that does not make us Bangladeshis,” she added.
For Rajbanshis, Tapashilis, Adivasis, Namasudras and all minorities the Chief Minister’s message was: “Do not worry. I will not allow a single detention camp to be set up in Bengal. No one can come here and detain you. I am instructing all police officers to ensure this.”
She stated that Cooch Behar will also be developed as a heritage town. “People are spreading misinformation about the Waqf Bill, but this is not our law, it is the Centre’s law. We have even filed a case in the Supreme Court. We would never snatch anyone’s land. For us politics is secondary and humanity first,” she said.