Kolkata : West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress Saturday accused the BJP-led central government of politicising the Oct 2 explosion in the state’s Burdwan to hide its “inability” to curb illegal infiltration.
The Trinamool, which vehemently opposed a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the explosion that killed two suspected Bangladeshi militants, now changing its stance, accused the central government of sitting on the issue despite a report by the state government.
“Immediately after the incident we sent a detailed report to the centre but it has done nothing. The centre has been sitting on the issue and trying to politicise it to hide its inefficiency,” Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee told media persons here.
Amid allegations by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist that the Mamata Banerjee state government was trying to cover up the probe to hide the Trinamool’s terror links, the union home ministry Thursday directed the NIA to take over the probe from the state CID.
Six people including two women have been arrested for the explosion in which the Bangladeshi militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen is suspected to be involved.
Chatterjee also held the Narendra Modi government responsible for illegal infiltration of Bangladeshis.
“If infiltration is taking place and then who is responsible? It’s the centre which is entrusted with deploying forces to guard the borders and if miscreants are illegally crossing the border, that means the centre is not performing its responsibility of girding the borders.
“Why is the state government being blamed for security lapses at the border? We strongly feel that the centre is trying to politicise the issue to hide its inefficiencies,” added Chatterjee.
Chatterjee’s comments come a day after Chief Minister Banerjee hit out at the Modi government for “interfering in the state’s affairs and attacking federalism” after the NIA was ordered to take over the probe.