Will not allow division of Bengal: Mamata
Daring the BJP to hold her at gunpoint, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday claimed that she would “shed” her blood but would not allow division of the state in the name of Gorkhaland. The Trinamul Congress supremo renewed her vow during her North Bengal tour ahead of the long-due Gorkhaland Territorial Administration election in Darjeeling later this month.
She also accused the BJP of encouraging separatism and warned Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) — which has been demanding a Koch Kamtapur state comprising six Northern districts of the state along
with some of Assam — after the banned separatist outfit threatened her and named several BJP leaders, including Union minister of state for home affairs Nishith Pramanik
as its patrons.
The CM told a party rally in Alipurduar, “The BJP earlier promised to create Gorkhaland ahead of the polls. Thus they divided the Gorkha votebank. But we would not allow it to happen. There was so much trouble in Dooars and Terai. They triggered a rift between Dooars and the hills. We do not want any rift. Hills are my friends like Dooars and Terai. I am ready to shed my blood but would not allow the division of Bengal.”
She wondered, “Can you divide Rabindranath Tagore, Nazrul Islam, Panchanan Burma, Chila Raj, the Rajbanshis, the refugees…? All of us are one and will stay united. Some leaders, who have nothing to do, are trying to scare me claiming that they would kill me if North Bengal is not carved out. I ask them if you have guts, put your gun on my chest. What audacity they have! I have seen guns many times before.”