BJP Must Discipline MP Demanding Bifurcation Of West Bengal
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-06-21 02:46:57
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It is surprising that John Barla, the BJP MP from Alipurduar, keeps on repeating his demand that there should be a bifurcation of West Bengal and North Bengal should be made a separate state or UT. Although the BJP says that it is the 'personal' view of Barla and the party does not support it, the very fact that it has not restrained Barla from making such inflammatory statements shows it in poor light.
Although such demands are made in many states, given the fact that there was a prolonged agitation in the hills of West Bengal for a Gorkhland state, demanding a separate North Bengal is fraught with the risk of inciting others into making such demands once more. Also, since this demand is being raised so soon after the BJP received a drubbing in the recent state elections, it shows them as poor losers out to trouble a government that has won with overwhelming majority.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh has said that the MP might have made this demand out of frustration as the state government is not listening to him regarding the development of north Bengal. Barla has said that the nearly 1000 tea gardens in north Bengal are in a woeful state and thousands of tea garden workers have been forced to seek jobs outside the state. He also said that the state government is doing nothing to help their cause.
But is this enough for him to demand a separate state? Dividing a state is a serious matter and no such demand can be made in a flippant manner or out of frustration of any kind. Barla should take up the matter with the state government and try to revive the local economy. It is not as if the state government is no alive to the problem but there is no easy solution to it.
Barla's demand has already caused fissures in the Alipurduar unit of the BJP. The district unit president Ganga Prasad Sharma, along with 6 other leaders, has decided to leave the BJP and join the TMC. If the party does not discipline Barla it will lose more leaders and workers and most importantly it will also lose the support of the people.
