'Trying to provoke people': TMC claims Sukanta met PM Modi to shift poll loss responsibility on Suvendu Adhikari

A day after Union Minister and West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar proposed the inclusion of North Bengal in the North Eastern Region, the ruling TMC hit back at him, saying Majumdar was trying to divert the attention from his failure in the Lok Sabha election and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to blame Suvendu Adhikari. "Sukanta Majumdar is trying to provoke the people by talking about separation of North Bengal," TMC's Kunal Ghosh said. 

Suggesting the move had nothing to do with the development of the region, Ghosh said Majumdar is not friends with anyone, neither with North Bengal nor with South Bengal. "According to the information we have, he is trying to blame their failure in West Bengal on Suvendu Adhikari for which he had gone to meet the Prime Minister," the TMC leader claimed in a video message shared by ANI. 

Majumdar said on Wednesday that he proposed the inclusion of North Bengal under the Ministry of DoNER to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development of the region. "Today, I met the Prime Minister and proposed that as North Bengal shares similarities with the Northeast, if North Bengal, while still being part of West Bengal, could be included in the Northeast under DoNER, the region would receive more development funds for various projects. I don't think the state government would oppose this idea as it is for the development of the state," he said in a video message.  

The minister's suggestion did not go down with the ruling party, which called it an attempt to separate the region from the state. 

Majumdar later clarified that he had proposed the inclusion of the North Bengal region, which has many similarities with the Northeast, under the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region. "This would allow funds allocated for the northeastern region to also be used for the development of north Bengal. This has nothing to do with dividing or separating the state," he said while speaking to PTI.  

TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said this was a separatist move by a Union Minister, "violating the oath of office under the Constitution". He said North Bengal is an integral part of West Bengal. "Even the Prime Minister doesn't have the power to entertain such an unconstitutional and illegal demand. This is an evil plan by the BJP to divide West Bengal, as they have been losing elections in the state since 2011," he said. 

The idea of separation of north Bengal has been a topic of debate since the BJP's loss in the 2021 assembly elections. Some BJP leaders, including former Union Minister and ex-MP from Alipurduars, John Barla, have previously suggested creating a Union Territory comprising north Bengal districts.