West Bengal Govt Passes Resolution Against Extension of BSF Jurisdiction

The resolution against the jurisdiction's extension was passed with 112 MLAs voting in favour and 63 opposing it.

Image of Border Security Force (BSF) jawans used for representational purposes.

(Photo: PTI)

The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, 16 November, passed a resolution against the Centre’s decision to extend the Border Security Force’s (BSF) jurisdiction in the state, news agency PTI reported.

The resolution was passed with 112 MLAs voting in favour and 63 opposing it.

This comes days after the Punjab Legislative Assembly on 11 November, unanimously passed a resolution discarding the Union government's notification expanding the jurisdiction of the BSF in the state, labelling it an 'insult' to the state authorities.

The Centre on 11 October had issued a notification declaring the expansion of jurisdiction of the BSF in the states of West Bengal, Punjab, and Assam.

The Home Ministry notification had increased the jurisdiction of the BSF to a 50km belt running parallel to the national border in these states, where it guards the international border, instead of the previous 15 km jurisdiction.

The central force can make arrests, conduct search operations and exercise other such forms of power in the stipulated area.

West Bengal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee, while moving the resolution in the House, said, “We demand that this decision be withdrawn immediately as enhancing the area of jurisdiction of the BSF is a direct attack on the country’s federal structure”, PTI reported.

Meanwhile, chaos erupted during the discussion when Congress MLA Udayan Guha made the statement: “A child living in a border area can never be patriotic if he witnesses his mother being inappropriately touched under the garb of body search by the BSF,” according to PTI.

Though Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs demanded that the remark be expunged from the Assembly’s proceedings, Speaker Biman Banerjee did not expunge Guha’s comment.

‘TMC’s Cow Smugglers Scared’: LoP Suvendu Adhikari

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, "There is no legal standing of this resolution. Implementation of the MHA notification is already in effect. TMC's cow/drugs smugglers and human traffickers are all scared", news agency ANI reported.

Reacting to Gaya's comments, Adhikari said, "The way senior TMC MLAs and ministers abused the BSF during this discussion in the Assembly, is shameful. I was wondering if this discussion is happening in an Indian state or a Pakistani/Afghanistani state."

Meanwhile, defending Centre's move to extend BSF jusrisdiction, Adhikari claimed, "There's no fencing in Bengal's 500-km border. Mainly, they enter from the coastal areas and carry out anti-national activities from Cooch Behar, North & South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad & Nadia. There needs to be an action taken against it immediately", ANI reported.

(With inputs from PTI.)