Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has a fear: a fear of her own countrymen, a fear of bordering Indian States. She acknowledges a security threat in the state but it is not what you think.
Mamata Banerjee has instructed the police to erect watchtowers and install CCTV cameras along 110 km of West Bengal’s border with Jharkhand to prevent the entry of miscreants who “are entering the state, committing crime and going back.” She also said, “the goons of that state are hired to kill a person. After the crime, a section of the people make a song and dance over it. I think that the border should be sealed. But, initially CCTVs should be installed in the area and watchtowers erected.”
Trinamool Congress leaders have been alleging that Maoists from Jharkhand, ruled by the BJP, move to Bengal at the behest of RSS and BJP, to carry out rebel activities.
Several districts of West Bengal such as West Midnapore, Bankura, Jhargram and Purulia bordering Jharkhand have remained infested with Maoists for long years and the security challenge lies for both state governments. While the TMC has been involved in the killing of RSS workers in places like Purulia, the “Saffron Brigade” with its RSS camps, has been building a presence in the most remote areas of these districts and the RSS is well known among the tribal people for their welfare work in the region such as running schools for children.
BJP Bengal president Dilip Ghosh criticized the move, pointing out that the West Bengal state government has not cooperated with the center in providing land for erecting a fence along several kilometers of the Indo-Bangladesh border, and how Banerjee’s concern for security in the state is blatantly selective.
Earlier this year, the BSF urged the Center to intervene and help it with acquiring land for border fencing through porous areas, especially along the 250 Km border with Kolkata which is fenced only along 9 Km. Why the center needed to be pulled in was because the state government of West Bengal had not been paying heed to BSF’s requests. Land is a state subject and federal cooperation is required at least in cases as sensitive as porous international borders but these arguments fall on deaf years with the Banerjee government which would rather alienate West Bengal from the rest of India for selfish political benefits.
While the ostensible reason Mamata Banerjee has given for creating a border within the Indian Union seems reasonable but when seen in the context of recent behavior of Mamata Banerjee, the move gains considerable significance and political meaning. In recent times, Mamata has shown a clear disregard for the union of India.
There is a pattern in Mamata Banerjee’s behavior indicating her disdain for the federal structure, especially after BJP government came to power in the center. In 2016, she had accused the central government of trying to destabilize the State Government of West Bengal by using the Army. In 2018, Mamata Banerjee forbade the CBI from investigating in West Bengal. She is the fiercest critic of the NRC exercise which aims to weed out the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants which have become a threat to India’s internal security. And now, she is planning to restrict free movement between two states of India by erecting something akin to Hadrian wall or Maginot line (between Jharkhand and West Bengal), Mamata Banerjee is doing everything that should weaken the federal structure. These poltically motivated decisions have been aimed towards undermining the authority of the center against which Mamata Banerjee seems to hold a perennial grudge.