Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday claimed that West Bengal is one of the most peaceful states in the country and those who are concerned about the law and order here should look at the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Banerjee, who was speaking at an administrative review meeting at Siliguri, did not name anyone but apparently hit out at the BJP-led government in UP for the recent gangrape of a Dalit girl in Hathras district.
“Those who talk about the law and order in West Bengal must see what is happening in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat Bengal is the most peaceful state in India,” she said at the meeting held in Uttarkanya, the state government’s branch secretariat in Siliguri.
Banerjee also said that fake propaganda is being used to divert the attention of the common people and create “mental terrorism”.
She urged senior police officers of the north Bengal districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Coochbehar to be ‘proactive’ to stop the spread of fake news via social networking platforms.
“These days problems are created by spreading fake news through social networking platforms. I ask the SPs, ICs to play a proactive role. People are spreading lies to create trouble. Once you come to know about it block them instantly.
Police have got a bigger responsibility.
“False propaganda, bad propaganda and fake propaganda are being carried out these days to create disturbance… The whole idea is to divert your attention from what is actually happening to something else. This is a clever ploy. We have to keep watch on it so that people live in our state peacefully,” Banerjee said.
Stating that public representatives must also keep a watch on it, she said “These days mental terrorism is much more devastating than physical terrorism.. We have to stop this at any cost,” Banerjee said.
The chief minister also accused the BSF of getting into the interior areas, which is not in its scope of work, and threatening the locals.
Directing the police to keep a close watch to check on such incidents as well as curb smuggling in the border districts, Banerjee said that at times some policemen help the BSF personnel.
Her comments came in the backdrop of CBI booking a BSF officer for his alleged involvement in cattle smuggling on the India-Bangladesh border.
The CBI had booked a senior BSF officer, his son and three others for cattle smuggling on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The central investigating agency had also conducted raids at several places in and around Kolkata and in Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas districts. PTI
