BJP lambasts Mamata govt for 'not checking' border crimes

Malda (WB), July 7: BJP state president Dilip Ghosh today lambasted the Mamata Banerjee government for its alleged failure to check border crimes, "growing religious fundamentalism" and its alleged links with terrorist groups operating from Bangladesh.

He said opium cultivation, cattle smuggling and trade in counterfeit currency were flourishing in the border areas and crimes in those areas have been on the rise with the "connivance" of the state government.

Addressing the media here, Ghosh said the Chief Minister realised the enormity of these problems after five years in power and only now she warned those associated with cattle smuggling across the border with dire consequences.

The previous Left Front government had "encouraged" these crimes and the present Trinamool Congress dispensation is following its footsteps, he alleged.

"For long the Left government could not stop border crimes and the present parivartan sarkar also failed to put a check on them," he said.

"We feel the Chief Minister personally does not want to end these crimes. She has had realisation of these crimes after five years but no concrete steps have been taken to check them," he said.

The BJP also feels religious fanaticism is growing in the border areas with the state government's connivance. Its relations with terrorist groups in Bangaldesh, active in the border areas, have also been growing, he said.

"When these incidents come to light, the Chief Minister tries to hastily cover up and divert attention," Ghosh said. He expressed happiness that BJP's Darjeeling MP S S Ahluwalia had been included in the expanded Union Cabinet as MoS Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs.

Ghosh was of the view that Ahluwalia should have been inducted into the Cabinet earlier. Ghosh, Kharagapur MLA, felicitated two newly-elected MLAs - Sadhin Sarkar from Malda-Baishnabnagar and Manoj Tigga from Madarihat.

PTI