The BJP today said there should either be President's Rule in West Bengal or a complete withdrawal of central forces from the state.
Speaking at the 'Jan Raksha Yatra' of the party here, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said the Darjeeling hills could not be equated with the Kashmir Valley and parts of Chhattisgarh, where the central forces were deployed, since these were declared as "disturbed areas".
"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should not have objected to the withdrawal of central forces from Darjeeling since she herself had claimed that peace had returned to the hills," he said.
"Either President's Rule should be imposed in West Bengal with a total deployment of central forces or let the Centre withdraw all of its forces from the state and allow the people to express their views," Ghosh added.
To a question on the state government's claim that the forces had been withdrawn at the behest of the state BJP unit, he said, "The central government is not controlled from the state BJP office, unlike the state government which is run by the TMC high-command."
Ghosh added that during his visit to the hills, he saw that CRPF personnel were being used to give protection to IPS officers and guard the residence of rebel Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Binoy Tamang.
"Are the central forces necessary to provide security to the IPS officers or extend protection to so-called big leaders like Binoy Tamang?" he asked.
Ghosh, who represents the Kharagpur Assembly seat, wondered who orchestrated the attack on him and his followers in the hills recently and who had "incited" the Gorkhas.
"We want an end to this politics. We had never wanted the division of West Bengal. We had never raised the demand for Gorkhaland," he said.
The BJP leader also said that announcing financial assistance for the family of slain police officer Amitabha Malik, who was recently killed in firing in the Darjeeling hills, would not "suppress the truth".
"Mamata Banerjee needs to explain why young policemen like Amitabha, without special combat training and gear, are being pushed to the frontier to deal with elements, who, as per the chief minister's claims, had links with militants from the north-east and Maoists.
"Why were the CoBRA jawans, stationed in Jangalmahal in West Midnapore district, not sent for the raid?" he asked.
Ghosh also referred to the alleged attacks on and killings of BJP-RSS activists in the CPI(M)-ruled Kerala and said his party could not be intimidated by such acts.
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