Ask UN to deploy peacekeeping forces in Bangladesh, Mamata Banerjee to Centre

KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked the Centre to move the United Nations to seek deployment of peacekeeping forces in Bangladesh where minorities have come under attack.
The chief minister also demanded that the external affairs minister should apprise Parliament of India’s stand on the current situation.
Banerjee also hit back at state leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for threatening to hold protests near the Petrapole international border in North 24 Parganas district and disrupt trade between the two countries, saying the agreement was between the two countries and it was for the Centre to take any action.
“Why don’t they ask their central leadership to pursue the Centre to proactively intervene in the Bangladesh situation? Instead, their leaders are demanding closure of goods movement along our land borders,” she said.
“There is a border agreement between the two countries. If only the Union government issues any advisory to stop trade, only then we can do it. It is not within our jurisdiction,” she told the state assembly on Monday.
The chief minister asked the Centre to take the issue up with the Bangladesh authorities and, if necessary, with the United Nations. “The Union government should take up the matter with the UN so that they can send the peacekeeping force to Bangladesh and rescue our people. This is my request and submission,” Banerjee said while speaking at the state legislative assembly.
Banerjee said there was an urgent need to rescue persecuted Indians and rehabilitate them on this side of the border. “If the present situation prevails, the Centre should take steps so that our people may return. There won’t be any problem about food and accommodation. We will share our ‘one roti’ with them but we don’t want any Indian to be tortured,” she said.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari, who was headed to Petrapole border to participate in a protest demonstration of Hindu monks, said, “She has her MPs who should raise the matter in Parliament as a reflection of her right political will. This is not a political issue, but an existential crisis of the Bengali-speaking Hindus, and the chief minister should rise above politics to stand beside them”.
According to news agency PTI, Adhikari, however, welcomed Banerjee’s call for UN peacekeepers’ deployment in Bangladesh, claiming it was he who had made the same demand a couple of days ago.
Amit Malviya, the party’s co-in-charge for Bengal, asked Mamata Banerjee to “shedding crocodile tears for Hindus in Bangladesh”. “Not too long ago, she had personally targeted monks and Hindu religious organisations like the Ramakrishna Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha and ISKCON in West Bengal, to consolidate her Muslim vote bank. Thousands of saffron-clad sadhus and lakhs of Hindu devotees had hit the streets in Kolkata, in protest,” he added.