After Punjab, West Bengal Assembly passes resolution against Centre's move to extend BSF jurisdiction

Kolkata, Nov 16: After Punjab, the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution against the Centre's decision to expand Border Security Force (BSF)'s jurisdiction despite opposition from the BJP.

"We demand that this decision be withdrawn immediately as enhancing the area of jurisdiction of the BSF is a direct attack on the country's federal structure," state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said after passing the resolution under Rule 169 of the Procedures of Conduct of Business of the House.

The resolution was passed with 112 voting in favour of it while 63 opposed it.

However, there was much drama in the house as TMC MLA Udayan Guha made a controversial comment over the Centre's decision. "A child living in a border area can never be patriotic if he witnesses his mother being inappropriately touched under the garb of body search by the BSF," Guha said.

BJP MLAs demanded the remark be expunged, but Speaker Biman Banerjee refrained from doing it. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the kind of language used against a force like the BSF is completely unacceptable.

"When the Union government tries to withdraw central forces from Junglemahal, it is the state government that opposes the move. And now, the same government is opposing BSF activities. Under this new rule (jurisdiction extension), there is no question of conflict between the state police and the BSF," Adhikari stated.

Last month, the BJP government amended the BSF act which authorise the force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a larger 50 km stretch, instead of 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. PTI