Amid demands by a section of BJP leaders for bifurcation of Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she would shed her own blood but won't allow division of the state. Speaking at a rally in Alipurduar in north Bengal, Mamata hit out at the BJP "for trying to fan separatism" in the state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, PTI rpeorted.
The TMC supremo said all communities in north Bengal had been living in harmony for decades.
"With elections approaching, the BJP is fanning the demands of separate statehood... sometimes seeking Gorkhaland, and at other times a separate state of North Bengal. I am ready to give my blood but will never allow division of the state," PTI quoted Banerjee as saying.
Last month, two BJP MLAs demanded union territory status for North Bengal in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, claiming that the people of the northern part of Bengal had been deprived of development.
Last year, BJP MLA from Kurseong Bishnu Prasad Sharma demanded separation of the Darjeeling hills from Bengal. The party's Alipurduar MP John Barla, now a union minister, had also demanded a union territory by carving out the districts of north Bengal in 2021.
In an apparent reference to a purported video by Kamtapur Liberation Organisation leader Jeevan Singha, threatening Banerjee of "bloodbath" if she opposed the demand for a separate Kamtapur, Mamata said such threats do not intimidate her. "Some people are threatening me, I don't care. I am not afraid of such threats," she said.
In the video, the masked man, flanked by armed bodyguards, warned Banerjee against visiting North Bengal.
"We appeal to everyone, including Mamata Banerjee, not to oppose our Kamtapur statehood demand. She mustn't visit North Bengal. We will intensify our movement in the days to come and seek cooperation from everyone," the person said.
"If anyone tries to stop us, the result would be devastating. There will be a bloodbath. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the cause," the masked insurgent further said, PTI reported.
A movement demanding to carve out a separate state of Kamtapur comprising the northern districts of Bengal and the adjoining western parts of Assam was launched in the early nineties.
(With inputs from PTI)