Taking a dig at the Centre for talking to a delegation of the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee spearheading the movement for a separate Gorkhaland state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today alleged that the Congress was adding fuel to the fire in the Darjeeling hills.
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written to me that the Centre would not talk to the GJAC without consulting the state government, but the state government was not consulted. What does it mean?" the chief minister told reporters at Writers' Buildings.
"When I was holding a meeting at Kalimpong (on September 3) after the Prime minister's assurance, the Union Home Minister met the GJAC delegation. How did he meet them? We protested against it," she said.
"I do not know what transpired in the meeting, but they (GJAC) received the oxygen and have been issuing threats thereafter," she said.
Banerjee alleged that the Centre had its own jurisdiction which it should not cross.
"The state government has also its jurisdiction and everything can be settled peacefully. They are adding fresh fuel to the fire which is not proper," the chief minister alleged.
She further alleged that disturbances were being created to win a seat (lone Lok Sabha seat in Darjeeling). "If they do it, people of Bengal will fight to the inch to show them that they will not tolerate it."
"Bengal is united with its seashore, Sunderbans, forests, Terai, Dooars and Hills. This is called unity and we are carrying with this. If anybody tries to play a different politics, people of Bengal will fight it out."
Apparently referring to the virtual shutdown in the Darjeeling hills at the instance of the GJM, the chief minister said that there was a 'limit' to tolerance. "No such politics should be played in the state which encourages goondaism and separatism."
Earlier, she said that a democratic and peaceful atmosphere for development should prevail in Darjeeling.
She said that a democratic and peaceful atmosphere was the prerequisite for development, which has not taken place in the hills for the last 30 years.
