Mamata Banerjee accuses Centre of fanning Darjeeling unrest

5 Dariya News

Kolkata 29-Jun-2017

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Centre of trying to fuel the ongoing unrest in the Darjeeling hills as well as the idea of a division of the state and said she will not allow fragmentation of Bengal in her lifetime."You are not able to fix the issues with Kashmir. It's a total failure there. But you are trying to interfere in the Darjeeling issue and injecting people with the thought of dividing Bengal. I will not let that happen in this lifetime," Banerjee said at a public meeting in the state's Burdwan district."We are ready to give people everything they want within our limits. But the division of Bengal will not happen, not happen, not happen," she asserted.Strongly opposing the Centre's in-principle approval for the divestment of Air India, whose debt has mounted to Rs 50,000 crore besides huge losses, Banerjee said such old airlines should not be sold as they were the "pride of nation"."They have decided to close down the Civil Aviation Department and get rid of Air India. But I still think Air India and Indian Airlines are the pride of our nation. Such huge companies with so much heritage value should be preserved, not sold," Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister also complained that a senior state government official, who was deputed as the Chairman of the Tea Board of India, had been asked by the central government to work as the Deputy Chairman instead, while a person having political links with the ruling party at the Centre had been made the Chairman."We sent him as a candidate for the post of Chairman. He is a Principal Secretary from the state. Why would he accept such a directive from the Centre? We are writing a strong letter to them," the Trinamool Congress supremo said.Accusing the Centre of running an autocratic government in the country, Banerjee claimed that she alone was raising her voice against the destruction of democracy, since others were afraid of doing it."There is an attempt to destroy democracy in the country. An autocracy is going on. Everyone is scared to talk about it. So I am doing it," Banerjee said."If there is an attack on us due to this, we will endure. If there is any conspiracy, we will scuttle it," she added.