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News Desk: Chaotic scenes were witnessed in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday as legislators debated a resolution against Centre’s decision to extend the jurisdiction of the BSF along the International Border. West Bengal became the second state after Punjab to table and pass such a resolution.
While the ruling party and Opposition engaged in fierce discussion over the resolution, remarks by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Udayan Guha sparked an uproar.
“We have seen the kind of atrocities that BSF [personnel] perpetrates on people. A child who has witnessed his mother being touched inappropriately under the garb of frisking, when she returns from the field, can never be patriotic, no matter how many times you chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ in front of him. These incidents give birth to anti-social elements” Guha was quoted as saying.
The remarks triggered outrage with Opposition leaders demanding that the TMC MLA’s remarks be expunged from the record.
However, Speaker Biman Banerjee did not entertain their request.
Reacting to the criticism, Udayan Guha admitted to making the statement but clarified that he did not mean to allege that all BSF personnel could be accused of such acts. The legislator also claimed that several women approached him with complaints about the issue.
“I have not said all BSF molest women but it happens where such cases happen in the name of frisking. As I am an MLA of a bordering area I have had multiple complaints of such kinds” Udayan Guha said.
Reacting to Guha’s remarks, a senior BSF official said “BSF ‘mahila praharis’ (women personnel) are the ones who do frisking of females”.
BJP leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Agnimitra Paul, among others, slammed Guha for his comments.
“It is sad what Udayan Guha said that BSF molests women. I feel that it should not be expunged. He has called BSF personnel dalals (middlemen). People should know somewhere while criticizing BJP and Modi, the TMC has gone to the extent of criticising BSF,” said BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul.
Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari termed Guha’s comment as extremely ‘foul’.
“Extremely foul words by a person who is a colleague. The way some leaders were speaking inside the house, we felt we were in Afghanistan” said BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari.
While opposing the resolution passed by the ruling party in the state Assembly, the Opposition BJP sought the expansion of BSF’s jurisdiction to 80 km from the International Border in West Bengal. BJP leaders are also planning to greet BSF personnel with lotuses on November 18.
