Separate North Bengal state: BJP MLAs hold meet
BALURGHAT: As in the past, with elections round-the-corner, BJP MLAs have once again resurrected the demand for a separate North Bengal state. Three BJP MLAs held a meeting in demand of carving out a separate state of North Bengal.
The state BJP leadership however claimed that the BJP party has no such plans as of now. With different statements emerging from different tiers of the BJP leadership, the TMC has asked the BJP to clarify the party’s stand on the separate state issue. On Sunday, Gangarampur MLA Satyendra Nath Roy, Kurseong MLA Bishnupada Sharma and Malda’s Gazole MLA Chinmaydeb Barman along with the party’s representatives from North Dinajpur attended a meeting at Roy’s Gangarampur residence to discuss this issue.
Regarding the meeting, MLA Chinmaydeb Barman said: “North Bengal has been a victim of deprivation for a long time. Health, education and industry have not developed. Real development is possible only if North Bengal becomes a separate state.”
MLA Bishnupada Sharma from Kurseong said: “North Bengal is still seen differently. To prevent this deprivation, we have been demanding the partition of Bengal for a long time. The special meeting was held on this demand,” added Sharma. MLA Satyendra Nath Roy said: “We discussed the partition of Bengal to save the people of North Bengal. We had taken an oath to meet our statehood demands.”
When quizzed on this, BJP state party president Sukanta
Majumdar washed his hands of the issue. “We are not in favour of Bengal’s partition. If BJP MLAs hold a meeting, it is their personal matter. The party has no role in this. BJP does not support the demand for division of Bengal at all,” said Majumdar.
Reacting to this development, South Dinajpur’s Trinamool Congress president Subhas Bhawal said that the state BJP should clarify its position on the North Bengal separate state issue. “If the BJP supports an undivided Bengal, then let them expel the MLAs who are plotting the partition of Bengal. BJP is looking for issues before the Lok Sabha polls. They have no issues to fight elections over hence their tactic has always been to confuse and hoodwink the public. We will also deal with it politically,” Bhawal said.