Mamata Banerjee urges leaders to finalise 'Permanent Political Solution' for North Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister during her visit to North Bengal addressed a gathering of people and asserted that the state administration is working forward to develop a solution to completely resolve the political issues in the region and make a final plan for “Permanent Political Solution (PPS)”.  She further asked the political leaders in the hills to work on the issue to find political stability.

Mamta urges political leaders to find a permanent solution for North Bengal 

During her speech, she further added that the Panchayat Polls and the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) polls will only be held after the PPS. With this TMC supremo also alleged that the problems in the hills are created by outsiders and not the insiders. "I request the hill leaders to make a final plan for hills-'Permanent Political solution' (PPS) and then we will go for Panchayat polls and Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) polls...Outsiders are creating problems in the hills, not the insiders," she said, as reported by ANI.

This comes during a long-running dispute in North Bengal, which has seen a lot of socio-political turmoil, such as the Gorkhaland movement. Since 1907, Nepali-speaking Gorkhas have demanded an independent state of 'Gorkhaland,' claiming that they are culturally and ethnically distinct from West Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee opposes BSF’s expanded jurisdiction up to 50kms

Mamata Banerjee also opposed the centre’s decision of expanding the Border Security Force (BSF)’s jurisdiction in Bengal. Banerjee criticised the centre’s move and said that the law and order is a subject of the state’s responsibility and West Bengal’s border with Bangladesh is peaceful. She further said that she will not accept the recent changes made by the central government of expanding the territory of BSF’s jurisdiction up to 50kms in the states.

The Chief Minister further stated that her administration will follow "state laws." "I admire the military, but they cannot use security as an excuse to harass individuals. I've already written to the Centre to express my opposition to the BSF jurisdiction problem. Our border areas are entirely peaceful. We don't require their participation "she stated, as quoted by the news agency.

The Centre earlier this month gave power to the Border Security Force (BSF) to conduct searches, make arrests, and seizures of the suspects approximately 50 kilometres inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh frontiers. The BSF, which previously had only been authorised to act up to 15 kilometres in the states of Punjab, West Bengal, and Assam, has now been authorised to act up to 50 kilometres without any obstacles or authorization from the central or state governments.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: PTI)