BSF obstructing workers from campaigning in border areas: TMC

BALURGHAT: The day after Mamata Banerjee accused the BSF of intimidating Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers, there were allegations of the Central force of obstructing the state’s ruling party TMC from campaigning in border areas for the forthcoming Panchayat polls.

“The BSF is preventing our candidates from going to the villages which are situated in Indian territory across the barbed wire fence under Hili police station of South Dinajpur district. We have approached the District Panchayat Election Officer already regarding the matter,” stated Subash Chaki, South Dinajpur Trinamool Congress coordinator.

According to him, it is not a new thing that TMC candidates are being restricted by the BSF jawans from campaigning. “In the earlier polls also, we observed the same thing. In this rural poll, the on-duty BSF jawans told our candidates not to go outside the border fencing for the campaign. After an argument, they allowed only three to four people. There is a time duration also. After proper verification of the Identity Cards along with valid documents of the candidates, the BSF jawans allow only 40 minutes. It is tough for us to campaign in such a short time,” he stated.

He blamed the saffron brigade for this. “We feel that instructions have come from the saffron camp for which the BSF jawans are obstructing our candidates from campaigning,” he added.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee during her election campaign in Cooch Behar on Monday had accused the BSF of scaring voters in the bordering areas across the state at the behest of the saffron camp and asked the police administration to keep a close eye on their activities.

She said the BSF has already increased its border jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km from the International Border.

On Monday she stated that she has information that during election time, the BSF officials will go to border areas and intimidate the voters so that due to a scare the voters may abstain from exercising their electoral rights.

Incidentally, 14 villages of Hili Police Station in South Dinajpur district are located across the barbed wire of Indian territory. The number of voters in the villages is several thousand.