“They are the true Tukde Tukde…” Mamata Banerjee slams BJP Minister’s proposal to merge Northern part of Bengal with North East, claims dividing Bengal will mean dividing India

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed Bengal BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar over his proposal to Prime Minister to merge Northern Part of Bengal with North east India, called it an attempt to divide the state. Majumdar, on Wednesday had issued a statement claiming that he had met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and proposed to club the Northern Part of Bengal with North east

“They are trying to divide Bengal, Jharkhand, as they are the ‘tukde tukde’ party. They have deprived us in budget. They are trying to create political and geographical blockade. This is unacceptable. In order to mark my protest and if I get a chance then I will at the Niti Aayog meeting tomorrow. Dividing Bengal is like dividing India”, Mamata Banerjee said while leaving for New Delhi.

Majumdar on Wednesday claimed “because Northern part of Bengal shares much in common with North East and thus financial schemes meant for the development of North East can also cover the districts that fall in the northern part of Bengal”. His remarks had sparked off a showdown between the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP. TMC highlighted that several BJP leaders in the past had made the demand to separate the northern part of Bengal as a separate state or Union Territory. Incidentally BJP has seen their saffron surge significantly in those districts including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar amongst others. BJP has won 6 out of the eight Lok Sabha seats from the territory, TMC, however managed to wrest Coochbehar from BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

Majumdar is currently the Union Minister of State for Education in PM Modi’s cabinet. “A minister shouldn’t not make such comments when the parliament session is on”, Mamata lashed out at him. Previously, John Barla, former BJP MP from Aliupurduar had demanded the separation of Northern part of Bengal from the rest of the state. BJP Bengal however hasn’t openly, either endorsed or objected to Majumdar’s proposal, much like what happened during Barla’s outburst before 2021 state assembly election.