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BJP To Clip Wings of Mamata? Urged Modi To Join North Bengal To NE

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, Guwahati
  • Jul 25, 2024
  • 335

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not like Mamata Banerjee's government in West Bengal at all. BJP is trying to clip the wings of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. For this, it is ready to resort to all means. BJP is trying to destroy Mamata's stronghold. 

For this, BJP has prepared a new plan. BJP's West Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar said on Wednesday that he has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include the northern parts of the state in the North East region as both have 'many similarities'. 

Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar said in a video statement released from Delhi, "I met the Prime Minister and submitted a presentation highlighting the similarities between North Bengal and the North Eastern states. I requested him to include North Bengal (a part of West Bengal) in the North East. Majumdar, an MP from Balurghat in North Bengal, said, "The Prime Minister will take a decision on the proposal in due time. If North Bengal is included in the North East, it will benefit from the schemes of the Central Government. There will be more development. I don't think the state government will object and will cooperate." 

In recent times, BJP leaders and MPs have raised the demand to create a separate North Bengal state from West Bengal.  North Bengal is formed by combining 9 districts of West Bengal. It includes Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Alipurdurwar and Kalimpong. North Bengal has 56 assembly seats and a total of 7 Lok Sabha seats. 

BJP is a major political force in North Bengal.  In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, it won five out of seven Lok Sabha seats in the North.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won six out of seven seats in North Bengal. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, TMC won 29 out of 42 seats. While BJP lost six seats compared to 2019 and was reduced to 12. One seat went to the account of Congress. TMC is very strong in the assembly with 219 seats, while BJP has only 66 seats. 

This has led to a strong reaction from the ruling TMC in the state. TMC called BJP 'separatist'. Accused it of trying to divide West Bengal for its political gain. Reacting sharply to the BJP leader's proposal, TMC MP Sukhendu Shekhar Ray said, "This is a separatist move on the part of a Union Minister. He has violated the oath of office under the Constitution. North Bengal is an integral part of West Bengal. Even the Prime Minister does not have the power to accept such unconstitutional and illegal demands. This is BJP's nefarious conspiracy to divide West Bengal as it has faced humiliating defeat in all elections in the state since 2011."

TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta posted on X: "Anti-Bengal, anti-Bengali. BJP is up to its old tricks again... Let me tell the descendants of Radcliffe clearly. Bengal was partitioned before causing immense suffering to millions of people who lost everything... We will not let this happen again. We will fight to the last drop of our blood to protect the sovereignty, integrity and border of Bengal! Bengal will never be divided again." 

In 2021, the then BJP MP from Alipurduar in North Bengal, John Barla, raised the issue of a separate state for North Bengal. He demanded that the northern parts of West Bengal be separated and made into a separate Union Territory or state.