West Bengal: State government to move resolution against extension of BSF jurisdiction

News Desk: Escalating its tussle with the Centre, the West Bengal government decided to move a resolution in the state Assembly on November 17 against the extension of Border Security Force jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km. The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a notification on October 11 allowing the BSF to undertake search, seizure and arrest within 50 km from the international border in Punjab. Speaking to the media on Friday, WB Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee revealed that the resolution will explain how this latest move is a “direct attack” of India’s federal structure.

While CM Mamata Banerjee had already written a letter to the Centre opposing this move, TMC upped the ante after the BSF shot dead two alleged Bangladeshi cattle smugglers at Sitai in the early hours of November 12. Lashing out at Banerjee, BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul contended that the former did not want the international borders to be safeguarded citing TMC’s purported linkages to “smugglers” and “criminals”. She also affirmed that all BJP MLAs shall oppose this resolution.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul remarked, “What’s the point of bringing resolution’ WB is a terrorist hub now. Why haven’t they given 631kms of land for fencing’ All BJP MLAs will surely oppose the resolution on the 17th (of November).”

Earlier on Thursday, Punjab Deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa tabled a resolution seeking the rejection of the Centre’s notification pertaining to the BSF dated October 11 and was passed unanimously. Maintaining that the Punjab Police is a “unique” patriotic force, the resolution asserted that the state government is fully competent to maintain law and order. Stressing that the Centre should have consulted the Charanjit Singh Channi led government before increasing the BSF jurisdiction, it dubbed this as “petty politics”.

The resolution read, “The decision of extending the jurisdiction of BSF from 15 km to 50 km by the Union government is an expression of distrust towards the state police and the people of Punjab. This is their insult too. The Union government should have consulted the state government before taking such a major decision. The law and order situation in Punjab is totally under control and there is no need to extend the jurisdiction of BSF. This is a gross violation of the spirit of federalism enshrined in the Constitution of India. Extending the jurisdiction of BSF is also symbolic of petty politics”.