By IANS,
Kolkata : Maoist guerrillas were fomenting trouble in West Bengal through hit-and-run raids from their bases in neighbouring Jharkhand, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said Saturday, adding “they’re cowards”.
“They’re cowards. They’re creating trouble. They hide in the deep forests and hills of Jharkhand. They make sudden raids, kill police personnel, our party men, and go back to the jungles,” Bhattacharjee said a Communist Party of India-Marxist rally at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district.
On the demand for inclusion of the three tribal dominated districts of Midnapore West, Bankura and Darjeeling in Jharkhand state, Bhattacharjee said: “Why should such a demand be raised? The condition of the tribals is the worst in Jharkhand.”
The chief minister said the majority of the tribals in the belt were with the Left Front government.
Bhattacharjee alleged various forces in the state were trying to stop industrial growth by creating unrest. “We don’t want that to happen. We want peace,” he said.
On the trouble in the Darjeeling Hills and the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state, he said: “We do not differentiate between Bengalis, Nepalis and tribals. The state belongs to everybody.”