Kolkata: In a throwback to the 2021 assembly poll scenario in West Bengal, several ethnic groups from the northern region have once again demanded separation from the state, close on heels of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar asking the Prime Minister to add north Bengal to India’s northeast region to ensure development.
On August 1, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee instructed all district units in north Bengal to immediately hit the streets and counter movements aimed at dividing Bengal, party leaders said.
Sukanta Majumdar, a Lok Sabha member from north Bengal’s Balurghat and Union minister of state for development of the northeastern region, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on July 23 with the proposal.
“If north Bengal gets added to the northeast, it will benefit by getting a share of the development funds. I am sure the state government will not have any objection. After all, the Mamata Banerjee government has failed to ensure development in north Bengal,” Majumdar said in a video message after meeting Modi.
Having resolved to condemn these by moving a resolution at the legislative assembly on August 5, the state’s ruling TMC has alleged that a conspiracy has been hatched to crush the spirit of Bengal.
“We want the BJP to take part in the debate on the resolution and make its stand clear on the floor of the House,” state parliamentary affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said.
North Bengal is considered a BJP stronghold since 2021, when the party bagged 30 of the 54 seats in the eight north Bengal districts, although TMC won 215 of the state’s 294 seats against the BJP’s 75.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP bagged 18 of Bengal’s 42 seats, creating a record. In north Bengal, it secured seven of the eight seats. This year, the BJP’s Lok Sabha tally in Bengal has come down from 18 to 12 but the party had won six seats in north Bengal.
“What (Sukanta) Majumdar did is part of a multi-pronged conspiracy hatched by the BJP to divide Bengal geographically so that it can somehow break the indomitable spirit of liberal-minded Bengalis because of whom the saffron camp could not overpower TMC in any election,” TMC state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar said.
