West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blames Centre for increased infiltration

KALYANI( WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today blamed the Centre for increased infiltration in the country.

"What was the Centre doing when infiltration was happening? Why did they not build fences? Infiltration is not a state subject. It is the Centre's responsibility. The BSF or the SSB are responsible for policing the border areas," Banerjee said.

She was addressing a meeting of party workers from Nadia, Murshidabad and North 24-Parganas districts here in Nadia district.

"So many border areas are lying unfenced and miscreants are entering," she said.

She told the partymen to inform the police if they find arms training taking place anywhere.

"Inform the police and administration if you come to know of any such incident," she said. Banerjee cautioned the people against "attempts to create communal tension in the state".

"We respect Dharma Gurus who teach us about harmony. We do not respect Danga Gurus who practice divisive tactics. Our Dharma Gurus have taught us about communal harmony," she said quoting Shri Ramakrishna's famous saying "Joto Mot, Toto Poth" (There are as many paths as ideas).

"We are building a gateway at Sagar Islands. The Mahant at Kapil Muni Ashram asked us to name it Sarva Dharma Samanyaya: This is a land of harmony. We have to defeat the conspiracies of rioters. Some people are trying to give a religious spin to any incident," she observed.

"Riot culture of danga gurus will not work in Bengal; We believe in communal harmony. We work for all irrespective of caste, creed or religion," Banerjee said, adding some people are trying to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims.

"This is not the culture of Bengal." She claimed that a recent survey has shown that Kolkata was the safest city in the country and accused a section of media of being involved in malicious propaganda and smear campaign.

"A section of media has sunk to the level of malicious propaganda and smear campaign," she said.

She rubbished reports of infighting in the TMC and said that the media hyped up minor incidents. "If a lot of vessels are kept together, there will be some noise," she said.

"A section of the media has reported that there was a fight between me and Mukul Roy and tussle between Arup Biswas (Housing minister) and Firhad Hakim (Urban Development) and so on. Such kind of reports are emanating in a section of the press which are blatant lies," she said.