Can't Evade Responsibility': CM Slams Centre on Bengal Clashes

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the central government over the recent communal violence in Murshidabad and accused a section of the BSF, central agencies under MHA, and the BJP of fanning tension by allegedly facilitating cross-border influx from Bangladesh.

- Press Trust of India

KOLKATA:

Addressing a meeting with Muslim religious leaders, Banerjee urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to implement the "atrocious" Waqf (Amendment) Act, warning that it would divide the country.

She also urged him to rein in Union home minister Amit Shah, whom she accused of "harming the nation most for his own political agenda".

The TMC supremo claimed that despite the volatile situation in neighboring Bangladesh, the Centre rushed through the Waqf (Amendment) Act and allowed illegal cross-border infiltration, both of which, she alleged, contributed to the unrest in Bengal.

Banerjee alleged that a section of the BSF and certain central agencies under the home ministry played a "role in facilitating the violence" and ordered a probe into the role of the border guarding force.

"I came across news claiming the role of elements from across the border in Murshidabad unrest. Is it not the role of the BSF to guard the border? The BSF is under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The state government does not guard the international border. The Central government can't evade responsibility. I will find out whom the BSF had financed in the border areas by paying money to local youths to pelt stones during the violence," the CM said.