Mamata Banerjee warns against 'high-handedness' at India-Bangladesh border

Indian West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday issued a series of directives on border policing and electoral roll management, warning state agencies to maintain procedural discipline while criticising what she described as pressure from federal authorities.

Speaking at an administrative meeting in Cooch Behar, a district bordering Bangladesh, Banerjee cautioned against "high-handedness" along the frontier, in an implied reference to the Border Security Force (BSF). She condemned alleged instances of Indian nationals being pushed across the border, says the Indian Express.

She urged state police personnel "not to be scared and be a little proactive," saying law and order must be upheld in border areas. Banerjee called for strengthened naka checking and said police van patrolling had decreased and should resume both day and night.

Responding to complaints of harassment, Banerjee said that "speaking Bengali does not mean one is a Bangladeshi," noting that several languages are shared across borders, including Urdu in Uttar Pradesh and Pakistan and Punjabi in both Indian and Pakistani Punjab.

She also said that no agency from another state may arrest anyone in West Bengal without following established procedure.

Banerjee raised concerns over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, urging departments to cooperate with Booth Level Officers. She instructed District Magistrates to ensure proper inclusion of names, citing difficulties faced by migrant workers and people married outside Bengal.

She criticised what she described as an accelerated timeline for the exercise, saying the SIR "is now being completed within two months, whereas it previously took two years," and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is "doing whatever they want".

Banerjee said 41 people, including three BLOs, had died in the state during the revision process, and compared these figures with those reported in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala. She advised residents to carry required documents when called for hearings.

Before travelling to North Bengal, Banerjee also criticised the BJP over the reference to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as "Bankimada" in Parliament during a discussion on Vande Mataram, questioning the party's understanding of national history and Bengal's role in it.