There have been noises from within the BJP for a long time now to bifurcate West Bengal on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir. So far, the party dismissed the voices, calling them ‘personal opinions’ that do not reflect the BJP’s official stand. However, a meeting as well as a BJP MP’s demand seem to be an indication of the party inching towards that end.
On Wednesday, Union Minister and Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested that he recognise eight districts of West Bengal as part of the Northeast which ends with Sikkim. After the meeting, Majumdar said: “I have handed over a proposal to the prime minister on why North Bengal should be considered a part of Northeast and the similarities between the two. If he accepts my proposal, this backward area of Bengal will get more funds from the Centre. I am of the opinion that the state government will cooperate.”
WHY IS THIS MORE THAN A MEETING?
There are many reasons why this was not just a regular meeting but indicates a trend of the BJP officially asking for bifurcation of the state in the future. Sources say the prime minister spent nearly half-an-hour with Majumdar, giving a sense of the importance he attaches to the proposal.
Secondly, Majumdar is the Minister of State of the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region and thus, his proposal assumes significance. He is also the West Bengal BJP president, which increases the political significance of the demand. In the past, Majumdar had to dismiss many demands of a separate North Bengal by BJP MPs as ‘personal opinion’. Interestingly, he hails from the Balurghat constituency, which too falls under North Bengal.
While Majumdar may argue that even if the prime minister accepts his proposal, it is not akin to bifurcation, the TMC called it ‘anti-constitutional’.
Senior TMC MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy said: “He (Majumdar) took the oath of the Constitution to abide by it. But his demand is against the Constitution because there is no land called North Bengal in India. The eight districts he is calling North Bengal are inalienable parts of West Bengal. They are called North Bengal by people for their ease of communication. They are the northern part of West Bengal.” Roy went a step further to allege that after failing to electorally defeat the TMC, the BJP is “conniving” to “split the state”.
BJP MP DEMANDS UT
As Majumdar met PM Modi, another BJP MP — Anant Maharaj — sought announcing a part of North Bengal that he calls greater Cooch Behar as a Union Territory. Maharaj heads an organisation called ‘Greater Coochbehar Peoples Association’ that wants to carve a section of North Bengal out of the existing West Bengal and declare it a UT. They have been raising the demand since 2015.
What makes it tricky is Anant Maharaj controls the votes of the Rajbangshi community. This time, BJP’s Nishith Pramanik’s drubbing by a margin of 39,250 votes in Cooch Behar in the Lok Sabha election is believed to be due to Maharaj’s lack of backing for the leader. In fact, this is the only seat in North Bengal the BJP lost in terms of its 2019 tally.
HISTORY OF BJP’S ‘NORTH BENGAL’ DEMAND
Anant Maharaj isn’t the first to have made such demands. John Barla, a former minister in Modi 2.0, was vocal about a similar demand. Born in Jalpaiguri, Barla had earlier demanded a separate Gorkhaland — a long-standing demand of the Gorkhas that encompasses Darjeeling and some areas of the plains. In 2021, Barla, the then BJP MP from Alipurduar, also in North Bengal, raised the issue of a separate state for North Bengal that goes beyond mere Gorkhaland — something that Majumdar is battling to be included as part of N-E.
“In order to escape from atrocities, I raised the demand for North Bengal to be declared a Union Territory. I will take this matter up with Delhi (leadership),” he had said back then.
Amit Shah’s deputy, Nishith Pramanik, too voiced similar sentiments but stopped short of demanding a separate state like Barla. After being made a minister, he said: “In a democracy, people are the most important factor, and keeping in mind people’s sentiments, appropriate decisions will be taken.” He had alleged back then that the allocation for a flyover in Kolkata did not even match the allocation in North Bengal.
Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, sticking to the demand for Gorkhaland, raised the issue in Parliament when he demanded a “permanent political solution” last year.
Reminding the Modi government of the importance of the ‘Siliguri Corridor’ from a “national security perspective”, he said: “I also informed Parliament that the safety and security of our region is only possible when the indigenous people of the region are safe. This is why, the people from Darjeeling Hills, Terai and Dooars are seeking justice and a solution under the Constitution of India.”
Speaking to News18, both Bista and Maharaj backed Majumdar’s efforts. “Greater Cooch Behar and North Bengal should be carved out 100 per cent. I support this move to attach it with the Northeast,” Maharaj said.
Raju Bista, while speaking to News18, said: “You will be surprised to know that West Bengal’s annual budget is Rs 3.78 lakh crore. But Norrh Bengal, where three crore people reside, gets just Rs 860 crore which is 0.002 per cent… I think Majumdar’s demand has a point and the Centre should think about it.”
So far, all these demands were labelled as personal opinions. However, Majumdar’s proposal seems to be the first concrete step towards the BJP changing its official stand.
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