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Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud (left) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that in the wake of the escalating violence in Bangladesh, she would keep the doors of her state open for people in distress from the neighbouring country and offer them shelter.
Bangladesh has objected to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee’s recent statement offering “shelter to helpless people” from civil unrest-hit Bangladesh.
The neighbouring country has sent a note to New Delhi stating its concerns about the matter.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, as quoted by Somoy TV, said, “With due respect to the West Bengal Chief Minister, with whom we share a very warm and close relationship, we want to make it clear that her remarks have a lot of scope for creating confusion. Therefore, we have sent a note to the Government of India.”
Last Sunday, the West Bengal Chief Minister said that in the wake of the escalating violence in Bangladesh, she would keep the doors of her state open for people in distress from the neighbouring country and offer them shelter.
Banerjee referred to the United Nations resolution on refugees as justification for her stand over a possible humanitarian crisis that may emerge on account of the severe law and order breakdown that has gripped the neighbouring country over the past few days.
“I should not be speaking on the affairs of Bangladesh since that is a sovereign nation and whatever needs to be said on the issue is the subject matter of the Centre. But I can tell you this, if helpless people come knocking on the doors of West Bengal, we will surely provide them shelter,” Banerjee said at the ‘Martyrs Day’ rally of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Kolkata.
“That’s because there is a United Nations resolution to accommodate refugees in regions adjacent to those in turmoil,” the West Bengal chief minister added, while drawing an example of people from Assam who were allowed to live in adjacent Alipurduar district in northern West Bengal for a considerable period during a strife in the Bodoland Territorial Region in the northeastern state.
Assuring all cooperation to West Bengal residents whose relatives may have remained stuck on account of the escalating violence on the other side of the international border, she also extended assistance to Bangladeshis who came to West Bengal but were facing difficulty in returning home.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
“We should exercise restraint and not walk into any provocation or excitement on the issue,” she stated.
The Trinamool Congress supremo also expressed her solidarity with the people who have remained at the receiving end of the ongoing violence in the neighbouring country.
“We are sad to see blood getting spilled and my heart goes out to those students who were killed,” she said.
Later in the day the chief minister listed out the assistance that the state administration provided to Bangladesh returnees.
(With PTI inputs)